340 OUR NATIVE SONGSTERS. 



remarks of M. Brehm, on the manner in wliicli it is 

 midertaken, are interesting. "Every bird," lie 

 says, " has its native country, where it freely re- 

 produces and remains part of the year, travelling 

 the remainder. Most birds spend half the year 

 at their home, and the other half in travelling. 

 vSome, particularly birds of prey, travel by day; 

 but by far the greater part travel by night, and 

 some perform their migration indifferently either 

 by day or night. They seem to pass the whole of 

 their migration without sleep, for they employ the 

 day in seeking their food, stopping in the places 

 where they are most likely to find it. They com- 

 monly keep very high in the air, and always at 

 nearly the same distance from the eartli, so that 

 they rise very high over mountains, and fly lower 

 among valleys." 



The flight of birds generally has been estimated 

 at from fifty to a hundred-and-twenty miles an 

 hour, but supposing a swallow to fly at the rate of 

 ninety miles an hour, it would in little more than 

 thirteen hours reach Egypt. The old notion that 

 the swallows plunged under water and remained 

 there during the winter, is now quite exploded, 

 yet it was long believed by good naturalists. 



