42 BLUE-BIRD. 
soon expect to meet with tulips and butterflies there, as Blue-Birds ; 
but, among hundreds of woodmen, who have cut down trees of all 
sorts, and at all seasons, 1 have never heard one instance of these 
birds being found so immured in winter; while, in the whole of the 
Middle and Eastern States, the same general observation seems to 
prevail, that the Blue-Bird always makes his appearance in winter 
after a few days of mild and open weather. On the other hand, I 
have myself found them numerous in the woods of North and South 
Carolina, in the depth of winter; and I have also been assured by 
different gentlemen of respectability, who have resided in the islands 
of Jamaica, Cuba, and the Bahamas and Bermudas, that this very 
bird is common there in winter. We also find, from the works of 
Hernandez, Piso, and others, that it is well known in Mexico, Guiana, 
and Brazil; and, if so, the place of its winter retreat is easily ascer- 
tained, without having recourse to all the trumpery of holes and 
caverns, torpidity, hybernation, and such ridiculous improbabilities. 
Nothing is more common in Pennsylvania than to see large flocks 
of these birds, in spring and fall, passing at considerable heights in 
the air; from the south in the former, and from the north in the latter 
season. I have seen, in the month of October, about an hour after 
sunrise, ten or fifteen of them descend from a great height, and settle 
on the top of a tall, detached tree, appearing, from their silence and 
sedateness, to be strangers, and fatigued. After a pause of a few 
minutes, they began to dress and arrange their plumage, and con- 
tinued so employed for ten or fifteen minutes more; then, on a few 
warning notes being given, perhaps by the leader of the party, the 
whole remounted to a vast height, steering in a direct line for the 
south-west. In passing along the chain of the Bahamas towards the 
West Indies, no great difficulty can occur, from the frequency of 
these islands; nor even to the Bermudas, which are said to be six 
hundred miles from the nearest part of the continent. This may 
seem an extraordinary flight for so small a bird; but it is, neverthe- 
less, a fact that it is performed. If we suppose the Blue-Bird in this 
case to fly only at the rate of a mile per minute, which is less than I 
have actually ascertained him to do over land, ten or eleven hours 
would be sufficient to accomplish the journey; besides the chances he 
would have of resting-places by the way, from the number of vessels 
that generally navigate those seas. In hike manner, two days at most, 
allowing for numerous stages for rest, would conduct him from the 
remotest regions of Mexico to any part of the Atlantic States. 
When the natural history of that part of the continent and its adja- 
cent isles is better known, and the periods at which its birds of pas- 
sage arrive and depart are truly ascertained, I have no doubt but 
these suppositions will be fully corroborated. 
