KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



261 



we were there. When we departed, deeply- 

 fetched sighs still followed us. 



Shall we confess it ? tears flowed apace 

 as we turned our back upon the building ; 

 and we blessed God, with an overflowing 

 and grateful heart, that we did know some 

 little of — 



"The 'Value' or Reason," 



;l 



S OF SOUG. 



No. XXXII.- MIGRATION OF BIRDS. 



^As this is the precise time for parting 

 with the last of our summer visitors — 

 almost all of them have already taken their 

 leave* — we will devote our present thoughts 

 to them only • and offer a few observations 

 on their migratory feelings— whether inhe- 

 rent in such of the tribes as are at liberty, 

 or in those which are in confinement. 

 We propose also, to glance at the instinct 

 which regulates all their motions and habits. 

 First, of the Swallow. 



Amongst these happy, social families, 

 there appears to exist an understanding 

 perfectly marvellous. With one accord they 

 assemble, or at a given signal they disperse. 

 Three weeks since, we saw them hovering 

 over the osiers between Chiswick and 

 Richmond in countless numbers, and they 

 were evidently about to decamp to the palms 

 of Africa, or the Orange groves of Italy : — 



-Toss'd wide around, 



O'er the calm sky, in convolution swift, 

 The featker'd eddy floats; rejoicing once, 

 'Ere to their winter slumbers they retire; 

 In clusters clung, beneath the mouldering 



banks, 

 And where, unpierced by frosts, the cavern 



sweats, 

 Ok rather, — into warmer elimes convey'd 

 With other kindred birds of season; there 

 They twitter cheerful, till the vernal months 

 Invite them welcome back." 



It has been imagined by some speculative 

 minds^ that all young birds are under the 

 disposition and guidance of the older ones ; 

 and that if young birds only were living 

 here, they would, for want of a conductor, 

 perish ! 



* If we reason a little, it will not be difficult 

 to imagine why some birds tarry here later than 

 others. Whilst strolling through Ealing on the 

 30th of September instant, we observed a pair of 

 house swallows busily feeding their young (a 

 late brood) under the eaves of a house at the 

 entrance to the village. These, of course, could 

 not, at the earliest, be ready for departure until 

 now. Hence, the reason of the later departures 

 we hear so often spoken of; but which some of 

 our &oo/<~naturalists (referring to their musty 

 records) so stoutly deny.— Ed. K. J. 



This view is absurdly incorrect. All 

 persons who have given the subject anything 

 like attention, must be aware that birds of 

 passage in particular act from an irresistible 

 impulse at certain seasons. Whether Nature 

 operates upon their brain in any particular 

 manner, or not, it is difficult to say ; but 

 true to their time, every bird, young or old, 

 would decamp with unerring prescience to 

 his change of quarters, however distant. It 

 is a beautiful provision of Nature to endow 

 all these little foreign visitors with such 

 wonderful powers of locomotion, and to 

 direct them so instinctively in their flights. 

 We imagine there are very few indeed lost 

 by the way, unless it be from illness or other 

 natural causes ; and as we see, year by 

 year, the return of certain birds to their 

 former haunts, the " principle " we advo- 

 cate must be correct. As with the " pas- 

 senger pigeon," there would seem to exist in 

 all migratory birds, the will and the power 

 to travel to any particular part of the 

 world ; and where their inclination leads them, 

 thither do they flock. 



We have spoken as yet of the swallow 

 tribe only — these, from their large mul- 

 titudes, being so prominently before the 

 eye. But the same unerring instinct, the 

 same desire to depart, inhabits equally the 

 breast of every migratory bird. The smaller 

 and weaker tribes do not, like the swallow, 

 disappear at once. The nightingale, black- 

 cap, garden warbler, whitethroat, and others, 

 travel through our gardens and orchards at 

 an easy rate, until they reach the coast. 

 Here they wait for a mild, quiet, day ; and 

 then cross the Channel at their leisure. 

 Having thoroughly moulted in this country, 

 and had plenty of time to renew their 

 strength, their powers of locomotion are, 

 at the time of their final departure, quite 

 adequate for the effort. Once across, by 

 easy stages they gain access to their new 

 quarters. When the winds blow heavily, 

 some of these little fellows are occasionally 

 obliged to take refuge in the rigging of 

 vessels at sea. Here they tarry until the 

 weather moderates ; they then renew their 

 flight. 



Connected with the subject of instinct, we 

 have so many interesting investigations to 

 make, so many novel observations to offer — ■ 

 that we feel our task, as we travel gently 

 onwards, will be a most pleasing one. We 

 are assured of the undivided attention of a 

 large and daily increasing auditory. Thus 

 encouraged, we will try to define the nice 

 difference between "instinct" and " reason." 

 No easy matter this, truly ; but an inquiring 

 mind, though beset by difficulties, never 

 recognises the ugly word " impossibility." 

 It unfortunately still holds a place in our 

 modern dictionaries ; but the sooner it is 



