VEUTEBRATA 



TOUNG BAEX-owL. (See page 6.) 



and rivers and continents for thousands of miles. The various modes in which these migra- 

 tions are performed by different species are exceedingly curious. Some of them, as owls, butcher- 

 birds, kingfishers, thrushes, fly-catchers, night-hawks, whippoorwills, (ire, fly only at night, and 

 others, as crows, wrens, pies, creepers, cross-bills, larks, bluebirds, swallows, <fec., only in the day. 

 Many move near the earth, while others soar beyond the reach of vision ; some go noiseless as 

 the shadows; others proceed with all the noisy parade of a military march. Some — as our blue- 

 bird, robin, blackbird, meadow-lark, cedar-bird, pewee, &c. — do not generally pass beyond the 

 boundaries of our North American continent; they go only so far as may be necessary to find 

 food, and conseqiiently are the first to return with spring ; others — as the herons, plovers, swans, 

 cranes, wild geese, &c. — are so impelled by the migratory instinct that they stop neither day 

 nor night till they have reached their far southern homes. While most proceed wholly on their 

 wings, there are some, as the coots and rails, that make a part of their long journey on foot, and 

 others, as the guillemots, divers, and penguins, that make their voyage chiefly by dint of swim- 

 ming! The young loons, bred in inland lakes and ponds, without the use of their wings, pursue 

 their route by floundering from pond to pond at night until they reach some creek connected 

 with the sea ; upon this they fearlessly launch themselves, and finally work their way through 

 storm and calm to the milder zone which they seek. These misrrations, it may be observed, are 

 chiefly confined to birds that are bred in temperate climates; but it appears that those which are 

 natives of warm regions have a similar movement, though of less extent. 



In considering the senses of birds, we shall observe that Smell is generally less acute in them 



