72 BOOK OF NATURE LAID OPEN. 



and the swallow observe the time of their coming." 

 When Storks take their departure for Europe, it is 

 said they all assemble on a particular day, decamp 

 during the night, and leave not a single one of their 

 company behind. Now what power unseen com- 

 mands them to this general assembly, directs them 

 in their course, orders them to halt as occasion re- 

 quires, and then to renew their flight till they ar- 

 rive at the exact point of their destination ? 



Who bids the Stork, Columbus-like, explore 

 Heavens not his own, and worlds unknown before? 

 Who calls the council, states the certain day? 

 Who forms the phalanx, and who points the way ?" 



" Where do the Cranes, or winding Swallows go, 

 Fearful of gathering winds and falling snow ? 

 If into rocks or hollow creeks they creep, 

 In temporary death confined to sleep ; 

 Or, conscious of the coming evil, fly 

 To milder regions and a southern sky r" 



Birds in the torrid zone, where their nests, other- 

 wise situated, would be exposed to the assaults of 

 the snake when he twines up the trunk, or the de- 

 predations of the ape, suspend them at the point of 

 a bough, or the extreme branches of the trees; and 

 some, as the Taylor-bird, not content with that pre- 

 caution, attach their nests to the side of a leaf. The 

 expertness of this little .bird, at the profession from 

 whence it derives its name, is admirable. When 

 it has picked up a dead leaf, it sews it to the side of 

 a living one, its slender bill being its needle, and its 



