84 MIGRATION AND FLIGHT. 



could be no doubt of their being Jays, as several were killed 

 as they passed. But the noise of the guns did not occasion 

 the rest to deviate from their line of flight : these birds, to all 

 appearance, were then coming from the Continent. We have 

 before noticed the occasional wandering tendency of that 

 steadiest of all birds, the barn-door Goose ; in fact, all birds 

 seem, either at certain seasons, or under certain circumstances, 

 to be seized with travelling propensities which they cannot 

 resist. If any of our regularly migratory birds are kept in an 

 aviary or cage, when the usual time arrives for the departure 

 of the rest of their species, these prisoners, without having any 

 communication with their companions, will nevertheless 

 manifest great uneasiness, and often die if detained. We 

 have seen this repeatedly in the Eedstart and Flycatcher, 

 which, though carefully supplied with the same food on which 

 they have thriven for weeks before, and been quiet and appa- 

 rently satisfied with their lot, will, early in September, begin 

 to show great impatience, flying about and striking against 

 the bars of the aviary, and usually dying after a few days 

 spent in ineffectual endeavours to escape. 



This year (1837) an instance came under our observation, 

 rather at variance with what has been stated, in the case of a 

 Nightingale, reared from the nest in the spring of 1835. It 

 soon became tame, and was kept in a cage till May, 1837, 

 singing always in the winter from Christmas till April, and 

 feeding readily upon minced pieces of meat and meal-worms, 

 and showing no symptoms of impatience at the usual period 

 of migration. It was silent the rest of the year. Last May 

 it was permitted to go out of its cage, which was hung up, 

 open, at the door of the offices. At first it returned regularly 

 in the evening to its cage, and was taken into the pantry, and 

 released again next morning. As the season advanced, it 

 sometimes stayed out all night, in the shrubberies and pleasure- 

 grounds, but if called by any of the servants, whose voice it 

 knew, would return, and feed out of their hand. For a day 

 or two, towards the close of summer, it seemed rather uneasy, 

 getting into the coal-hole and cellar; but this soon wore off. 

 As the evenings got cool, in the autumn, it returned again to 



