280 FACULTIES OF BIRDS. 



after they have remained through the hardships of a 

 severe winter with us, and might be expected to 

 rejoice at the approach ins; spring, and build their 

 nests and couple, they, on the contrary, then take 

 their departure, as if that mild and pleasant tempera- 

 ture which delights and cherishes most other crea- 

 tures were disagreeable to them. The place of their 

 summer retirement is Sweden and other countries in 

 that latitude ; but as they would find those countries 

 too cold for their reception, and probably destitute of 

 provision, if they went thither immediately on leaving 

 this country, they travel gradually, and prolong their 

 passage through the more moderate countries of 

 Germany and Poland, so that by the time they reach 

 the northern regions the severity of the cold has much 

 abated, and some sorts of food may be there found. 

 The winter food of these birds being berries, and 

 particularly haws, and as these grow more abundantly 

 here than in northern regions, this maybe one of the 

 circumstances which attract them to this country ; 

 but, no doubt, their principal motive is to exchange 

 for a more temperate climate the rigour of the frozen 

 countries of the north. Their coming may thus be 

 accounted for; but the cause of their departure at 

 the season they leave us presents a considerable diffi- 

 culty. If it be said that they do not go till the haws 

 and berries are all gone, and they are necessitated to 

 seek for food elsewhere, this would not account for 

 it unless we supposed that the north could afford 

 them a fresh and better supply, which it certainly 

 could not. It is, therefore, likely that they change 

 their diet; but even then, one would imagine that it 

 would be easier for them to find their subsistence 

 here than in the northern regions to which they then 

 proceed. 



Among the most remarkable of this class of birds 

 who find the severe weather from which others retire 



