1064 Birds. 



Above you have a list of certain migratory birds, with the dates of their first appear- 

 ance, as observed by myself here. The swallow, April 9, is earlier than I ever before 

 noticed it so far north, namely, in lat. 54°. Nor was it an accidental straggler: there 

 were not less than eight or ten birds in the same company, flying over a large pond of 

 water, and resting occasionally on some naked boughs as composedly as if the sum- 

 mer were far advanced. One had been seen at the same pond on the 4th of April. 

 The weather for about ten days preceding the 9th of April had been genial and warm. 

 The cuckoo's note on his arrival was clear and distinct ; but it is an observation of my 

 own, confirmed by a very intelligent gamekeeper residing near me, that we have had 

 very few cuckoos this year. The same remark applies also to the house-martin, which 

 I never saw this year before the beginning of May, though I feel satisfied it must have 

 been here before. It is the first time I have ever met with the pied flycatcher in this 

 part. The wind was blowing strongly from nearly west, and this bird had taken up a 

 position on the eastern side of an orchard, and under this shelter was busily engaged 

 in taking flies, and retreating generally to the broken and dead stock of a thorn, over- 

 hanging a small pond or ditch of water. This bird was very tame, and allowed me to 

 approach within a few yards of it. On dissection I found it to be a male. If you 

 would allow a digression (and from a notice on the cover of the last Zoologist, you 

 appear desirous of remarks on migration), I may perhaps be permitted to add that 

 whilst the swallows were numerous amongst us, the woodcocks and fieldfares had not 

 yet taken their final leave for the summer. A neighbouring gentleman informed me 

 that towards the middle of last April he saw two woodcocks on the same day, killed 

 one, and seriously wounded the other. On the 24th of April I saw not less than one 

 hundred fieldfares in a flock, amongst which were a few redwings. I have frequently 

 seen a few scattered fieldfares much later in the season, but I was astonished at the 

 great number congregated, and more especially as the morning was warm and genial, 

 though about the middle of April the winds had been keen and severe, and even snow 

 had fallen on and covered the tops of some of the high Cumberland hills. It may 

 perhaps be difficult to account for the presence of the numerous swallows, and the pre- 

 valence of woodcocks and the abundance of fieldfares on nearly the same grounds, and 

 at the same time of the year; and were atmospheric changes the only influencing mo- 

 tives to migration, we might conclude that either the swallows or fieldfares were de- 

 ceived, or perhaps that a premature summer in a more southerly climate than our own 

 had urged the swallows too hastily to abandon their winter quarters, and visit their ac- 

 customed breeding-stations. If, however, we admit that incubation is also a motive 

 to migration, we then may imagine another reason why some birds stay longer in their 

 winter quarters than others. And this supposition would appear to be countenanced 

 by the varying periods of nidification of different species of birds. For according to 

 Mr. Yarrell, the " swallow begins to form her nest in May, and her first brood flies by 

 the end of June," (Br. Birds, ii. 217). Whereas, according to the same high autho- 

 rity, the fieldfare breeds generally late in July, and "the young are just able to fly 

 about the 6th of August," (Id. i. 191). Here then is a reason why the swallow should 

 be at her breeding-station sooner than the fieldfare ; and therefore, in addition to the 

 atmospheric changes acting externally on the bodies of birds, and urging them to se- 

 lect a climate congenial to their nature and suitable to their wants, there is also in the 

 spring season an internal impulse prompting to the procreation of their species, and 

 probably regulating materially the precise period of their migratory movements. — ./. 

 D. Banister ; Pilling, Lancashire, June 11, 184. 5. 



