Gbe Marbler 27 



in the northern and eastern states with undigested rice in their crops, which 

 must have been picked up in the rice fields of Carolina or Georgia but the 

 day before. . 



There is a well attested account of a Falcon from the Canary Islands, 

 sent to the Duke of Lerma, which returned from Andalusia to the Island of 

 Teneriffe in sixteen hours, which is a passage of 750 miles. The story of 

 the Falcon of Henry the Second, is well known, which, pursuing with eager- 

 ness, one of the small species of Bustards at Fontainebleau was taken the 

 following day at Malta and recognized by the ring which she bore. Swal- 

 lows fly at the rate of a mile a minute, which would be 1440 in 24 hours. 

 That many birds continue their migrations by night as well as by day, and 

 are thus enabled to imke an additional progress, may be easily ascertained 

 from their notes which we often hear by night in autumn and spring (the 

 seasons of their migrations). The cries of Geese, Cranes and some species of 

 land birds are distinctly heard, and others fly silently. Wild Pigeons are 

 frequently seen in the higher atmosphere at early dawn. They flv higher 

 by night than by day, and thus experience less inconvenience from darkness. 

 The great Whooping Crane scarcely ever pauses in his migrations to rest in 

 the middle states. I have heard his hoarse notes as he was passing over the 

 highest mountains of the Allegany, but he was always too high to be seen by 

 the naked eye. This bird seems to take wing from his usual winter retreats 

 in the South, ascends into the higher regions of the air and halts not till he 

 arrives at his breeding places in or near the polar regions. There are very 

 few birds that do not migrate, either on account of food or climate. 



The observations of Capts. Parry and Franklin, of Dr. Richardson and 

 their associates, who wintered in the polar regions, proves that birds which 

 never visit temperate climates, and which naturalists formerly supposed were 

 wholly confined to the Arctic circle, leave the intensely cold regions of the 

 north in winter, and migrate southerly to the distance of many hundred 

 miles. These adventurous explorers of the polar regions speak of the dreari- 

 ness and desolation of those countries in the winter, and almost total absence 

 of animal life. During the whole winter spent at Melville Island a pair of 

 Ravens {Corvits cor ax) alone were seen, and these they state had frequently 

 a white ring around their necks, caused by the accumulated encrustments of 

 their own breath, and giving them a very singular appearance. The Snow 

 Buntings (Emberiza nivalis) the Ptarmigan (Tetrao lagopus) and two other 

 species of Arctic Grouse, were their earliest visitants in the spring; and 

 these birds are in Europe and in the farthest northern settlements of our con- 

 tinent found only in the coldest winters, and on the highest mountains. 

 Still we perceive that even they find limits beyond which they cannot live 

 in winter. 



Birds migrate either to avoid the cold in winter, or to find more con- 



