On the Migration of North American Birds. 99 



arrival of the swans, geese and ducks gave certain indications of the 

 return of spring. On the 14th a robin appeared ; this bird is consid- 

 ered by the natives as an infalUble precursor of warm weather ;" and 

 Capt. Parry says " the snow bunting was the first precursor of 

 spring that appeared. When the well known notes of the whip- 

 poorwill, (^Caprimulgus vociferus, and C. CaroUnensis,) are heard, 

 the farmer is reminded that the time for the planting of corn is at 

 hand. The fish hawk's return to the rivers of the north is regarded 

 by the fisherman as a proof that the season for the taking of shad has 

 arrived. When the swallow appears, the danger of frost is believed 

 to be over ; and if the Cuckoo of Europe is hailed by the old and 

 the young as an evidence of the return of spring, and if we have in 

 coninion with them admired the beautiful sentiment of the poet, 



" Sweet bird thy bower is ever green, 



Thy sky is ever clear; 

 Thou hast no sorrow in thy song, 



No winter in thy year," 



the inhabitants of the middle and northern states of our country 

 feel equally interested and pleased when they hear the soft and me- 

 lodious note of the blue bird, the robin and the wood thrush, (^Tardus 

 mustelinus,) reminding them that "the winter is past and gone and 

 that the time of the singing of birds has come." 



Previous to a storm, the birds give indications of its approach. 

 Our vultures, in great numbers, rise in circles till they are almost 

 lost in the region of the clouds, the stormy petrels, (Thlassidroma 

 JVilsonii, Bon.) crowd in great numbers around vessels and follow 

 in their wake as if seeking the protection of man, the sea gulls and 

 terns make the shores reecho with their hoarse clamorous notes, 

 the loon, ( Colymhus glacialis,) is excessively restless and his screams 

 are heard at the distance of more than a mile and the barred owl, 

 (Strix nebulosa,) utters his funeral cries even in the day. But when 

 fine weather is about to return the whole scene is changed, and every 

 hedge and copse and grove is rendered vocal and the whole feath- 

 ered tribe seem to rejoice at the prospect of the cessation of the storm 

 and the anticipation of bright skies and sunny days. 



But although our subject is far from being exhausted I am admon- 

 ished that it is time to bring these desultory remarks to a close. If 

 I shall have fortunately succeeded in throwing even a ray of light on 

 that which has hitherto appeared mysterious in nature ; or if I have 

 been enabled to awaken in a single mind a sentiment of admiration 



