BLUE BIRD. 63 



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 ascertained, 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 continued 

 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 southwest. 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, nevertheless, a fact that it is per- 

 formed. 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 like 

 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 adjacent isles is better 

 known, and the periods at which its birds of passage arrive 

 and depart are truly ascertained, I have no doubt but these 

 suppositions will be fully corroborated. 



