294 INSTINCT. 



made no regular appearance. Now and then a 

 straggler was seen ; and, on the twenty- second 

 of October, I observed two, in the morning, over 

 the village, and with them my remarks for the 

 season ended, 



From all these circumstances put together, it 

 is more than probable that this lingering flight, at 

 so late a season of the year, never departed from 

 the island. Had they indulged me that autumn 

 with a November visit, as I much desired, I 

 presume that, with proper assistants, I should 

 have settled the matter past all doubt ; but 

 though the 3d of November was a sweet day, and 

 in appearance exactly suited to my wishes, yet not 

 a martin was to be seen, and so I was forced, 

 reluctantly, to give up the pursuit. 



I have only to add, that were the bushes, which 

 cover some acres, and are not my own property, 

 to be grubbed and carefully examined, probably 

 those late broods, and perhaps the whole aggre- 

 gate body of the house -martins of this district, 

 might be found there in different secret dormito- 

 ries ; and that, so far from withdrawing into 

 warmer climes, it would appear that they never 

 depart three hundred yards from the village. 



LVI. 



THEY who write on natural history cannot too 

 frequently advert to instinct, that wonderful limited 

 faculty, which, in some instances, raises the brute 

 creation, as it were, above reason, and in others, 

 leaves them so far below it. Philosophers have 

 defined instinct to be that secret influence by 

 which every species is impelled naturally to pursue, 

 at all times, the same way, or track, without any 



