PERCHING BIRDS. 205 



and are still further embarrassed to find that some 

 do not actually migrate at all." 



Some have asserted that swallows do not leave 

 our country, but exist in a torpid state ; and some 

 have even maintained, that they lie at the bottom 

 of lakes and rivers, clustered together. The facts 

 of the case are now well established. They appear 

 in England in April, and are generally all gone by 

 the end of the month of September ; but some of 

 the late broods are not capable of the journey, and 

 so remain, and are found, either dead, or in a 

 benumbed state, in holes of walls, or under 

 hedges ; partly no doubt, from the cold, and 

 partly from want of food ; but these instances 

 are not common, and will not support the infer- 

 ence, that, if any of them survive, the whole 

 species is preserved in the same manner. 



" Amusive birds ! say, where your hid retreat 

 .When the frost rages and the tempests beat ? 

 Whence your return, by such nice instinct led, 

 When spring, sweet season, lifts her blooming head ? 

 Such baffled searches mock man's prying pride, 

 The God of nature is your secret guide." 



Much interest and amusement may be derived 

 from watching and noting the arrival and departure 

 of our migratory birds ; every ornithologist en- 

 deavours to ascertain what species are migratory 

 in the district in which he is resident, and to 



