390 



HYBERNATION. 



Animals suit of education j but in other instances, we must con- 

 f ess O ur inability to offer any explanation. 



Such baffled searches mock man's prying pride, 

 The God of Nature is your secret guide. 



CHAP. III. 



HYDERNATINO ANIMALS WHICH MIGRATE. 



Tins subject has long occupied the attention of na- 

 turalists ; and several important observations have been 

 published by different authors. It is chiefly, however, 

 as it regards birds, that the subject is deserving of parti- 

 cular consideration. We are acquainted with but few 

 circumstances connected with the migration of quadru- 

 Migrating peds. Limited in their powers of locomotion, their 

 ijuadrupeds, range of travelling is confined, so that other means arc 

 provided for their safety and sustenance during winter. 

 The cheiroptera are well fitted for migrating ; and ac- 

 cordingly we find that some species are known to do 

 so. In Italy, the common bat (Vesperlilio marinas) 

 abounds ; but it migrates southwards at the approach of 

 winter, and is not found in any of the caves in a torpid 

 state. The V. noclula, however, arrives annually to 

 winter, although it retires to spend the summer in more 

 northern regions. Dr Barton informs us that some 

 species of dipus migrate from the northern to the 

 southern parts of America during winter. Many of 

 the ruminating animals shift their habitations accord- 

 ing to the changes of the year. Thus, the stag and 

 the roebuck leave the alpine regions at the approach 

 of winter, and seek protection in the more sheltered 

 plains. More extensive migrations are performed by 

 the palmated quadrupeds, particularly the seals. These 

 shift their stations to reach safe breeding places, in 

 whatever country they live in. But the common seal 

 {Phoca vilulinti) often performs regular migrations in 

 quest of food. In the Statistical Account of the parish 

 of North Knapdale, we are told that the lake called 

 Lochow, about twenty miles in length, and three miles 

 in breadth, " abounds with plenty of the finest salmon; 

 and, what is uncommon, the seal comes up from the 

 ocean, through a very rapid river, in quest of this fish, 

 and retires to the sea at the approach of winter." An- 

 other species, the P. Groenlandica, seems to seek more 

 temperate regions during the winter. Seals of this 

 kind, says Horrebow in his History of Iceland, " ar- 

 rive annually in the month of December, especially 

 about the northern parts of the country, and generally 

 stay till May, at which time, those that escape the 

 Icelanders depart." A few curious facts regarding the 

 migrations of the Cetacea may be found under the article 

 GREENLAND. Several kinds of small whales visit the 

 coasts of Scotland, chiefly during the autumnal months; 

 but we are ignorant of the places from whence they 

 come, and unacquainted with the laws of their migration. 



Migrating 

 birds. 



Migration of Birds. 



The migrations of the feathered race, as connected 

 with their hybernation, have been the subject of popu- 

 lar observation since the days of the prophet Jeremiah. 

 " Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed 

 times ; and the turtle, and the crane, and the swallow, 

 observe the time of their coming." (ch. viii. v. 7.) Many 

 important facts have been ascertained, and a few ge- 

 neral conclusions have been established. But the sub- 

 ject is still far from being exhausted; nay, without 

 fear of contradiction, we may venture to assert, that it 



is but very imperfectly understood by naturalists in 

 general. Popular errors have gained admittance as which 

 scientific documents, and the well authenticated facts ^ 

 have been suffered to remain, in their original detach- 

 ed form, destitute of connection and arrangement. 



It is not our intention to enter into any minuteness 

 of detail regarding the migrations of the different spe- 

 cies of birds. This has already been done under the 

 article BIRDS, where the reader will find a statement 

 of several facts connected with the migration of our na- 

 tive species. And he may also consult at his leisure, 

 the ornithological productions of Pennant, White, and 

 Montagu. Our observations in this place, will be of a 

 general nature, and will have for their object to ascer- 

 tain the laws of migration, and the circumstances un- 

 der which it takes place. 



Migrating birds may be divided into two classes, 

 from the different seasons of the year in which they ar- 

 rive or depart. To the first class will belong those 

 birds which arrive in this country in the spring, and 

 depart in autumn, and are termed Summer Birds of 

 Passage. The second will include those which arrive 

 in autumn, and depart in spring, and are called Winter 

 Birds of Passage. 



THE SUMMER BIRDS OF PASSAGE are not confined to Summer 

 any particular order or tribe ; nor are they distinguish- birds of 

 ed by similarity of habits. Some of them belong to passage, 

 the division of (Voter Fowls, as the terns and gulls ; 

 while others are Land Birds, as the swallow and rail. 

 They differ also remarkably with regard to their food. 

 Thus, the hobby is carnivorous ; the gulls and terns, 

 piscivorous ; the swallow, insectivorous; and the turtle 

 dove and the quail, granivorous. 



In many particulars these summer birds of passage 

 exhibit very remarkable differences. They, however, 

 present one point of resemblance. All of them, during 

 their residence in this country, perform the important 

 offices of pairing, incubation, and the rearing of their 

 young, and hence may with propriety be termed the 

 natives of the country. We hail their arrival as the 

 harbingers of spring, and feel the blank which they leave 

 on their departure, alhough it is in some measure sup- 

 plied by another colony of the feathered race, who come 

 to spend with us the dreary months of winter. 



THE WINTER BIRDS OF PASSAGE have more points winter 

 of resemblance among themselves than those of the for- birds of 

 mer division. They chiefly belong to the tribe of wa- passage, 

 ter-fowls. None of them are insectivorous, and very few 

 are granivorous. They chiefly frequent the creeks and 

 sheltered bays of the sea, and the inland lakes, or they 

 obtain their food in marshy grounds, or at the margins 

 of springs. When the rigours of the season are over, 

 and when other birds which are stationary are prepa- 

 ring for incubation, these take their departure, to be 

 again succeeded by our summer visitants. 



We have stated generally, that our summer and win- 

 ter birds of passage visit us at stated seasons of the 

 year ; that the summer visitants arrive in spring and 

 depart in autumn ; and the winter visitants arrive in au- 

 tumn and depart in spring. But the different species 

 do not all observe the same periods of arrival and de- 

 parture. Thus, among the summer birds of passage, 

 the wheat-ear always precedes the swallow, while the 

 swallow arrives before the martin, and the martin be- 

 fore the landrail or corncrake. Among the winter birds 

 of passage, similar differences in the time of arrival are 

 observable. Thus the woodcock precedes the fieldfare, 

 and the fieldfare the redwing. The time of departure 

 has not been observed with so much attention, as the 



