I 



son ; and these vast migrations consist not only of 

 hirundines, but of bee-birds, hoopoes, Oro pendolos, or 

 golden thrushes, &c. &c., and also of many of our 

 soft-billed summer birds of passage ; and moreover 

 of birds which never leave us, such as all the various 

 sorts of hawks and kites. Old Belon, two hundred 

 years ago, gives a curious account of the incredible 

 armies of hawks and kites which he saw in the 

 spring-time traversing the Thracian Bosporus from 

 Asia to Europe. Besides the above-mentioned, he 

 remarks that the procession is swelled by whole 

 troops of eagles and vultures. 



Now it is no wonder that birds residing in Africa, 

 and especially birds of prey whose blood being 

 heated with hot animal food are more impatient of a 

 sultry climate, should retreat before the sun as it ad- 

 vances, and retire to milder regions ; but then I can- 

 not help wondering why kites and hawks, and such 

 hardy birds as are known to defy all the severity of 

 England, and even of Sweden and all north Europe, 

 should want to migrate from the south of Europe, 

 and be dissatisfied with the winters of Andalusia. 



It does not appear to me that much stress can be 

 laid on the difficulty and hazard that birds must run 

 in their migrations, by reason of vast oceans, cross 

 winds, &c. ; because, if we reflect, a bird, by crossing 

 the water at Dover, and again at Gibraltar, may 

 travel from England to the equator without launch- 

 ing out and exposing itself to boundless seas. And 



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