124 MIGRATION OF BIRDS. 



time, because the great thickness of the feathers and 

 down both deaden the force of the shot, and make it 

 slide off. 



The nest of the female is formed of reeds, without 

 leaves and rushes ; she lays from four to seven eggs, 

 which are of a rusty colour, with some white blotches 

 about the middle ; and she sits for about six weeks, so 

 that the young are not in a condition to quit the places 

 where they are hatched during the first season. They 

 begin to moult, or cast their feathers, in August, during 

 which operation they are unable to fly, and thus readily 

 become the prey of the people of the north, who hunt 

 them with dogs, or knock them on the head with clubs. 

 The young swans are not unpleasant food ; but the 

 people of the countries where they breed do not hesitate 

 to kill and eat the old ones, the flesh of which is very 

 hard, tough, and black. The feathers and down of the 

 swan are articles of commercial value ; and the north- 

 ern people dress the skins, with the feathers and down 

 upon them, for winter garments. In the north of Scot- 

 land both the birds and eggs are sometimes wantonly 

 destroyed. 



The migration of birds is a singular provision of 

 nature, and though the rapidity of their motion makes 

 their passage across the widest seas a matter easily ac- 

 complished, yet the instinct which leads them to change 

 their latitude with the seasons is worthy of notice ; the 

 more so, that it is also one of the resources of man in a 

 state of nature. The same necessity, that of finding 

 food, seems to actuate both. The Siberian hordes follow 

 the course of vegetation, moving to the south as the 

 winter cold nips the vegetation of the north ; and to the 



