72 



THE ZOOLOGIST. 



are said to live upon their Summer fat all the Winter long 

 in Greenland, without any new Supply of Food. Now we noted 

 before that some of those Birds (and perhaps it may be true 

 of the rest) are very Succulent and Sanguine, and so may 

 have their Provisions laid up in their very Bodies for the 

 Voyage. 



" As to Sleep, 'tis very probable that they are in a Sleep or 

 sweeven if not all the Way between the Attraction of the Earth 

 and that of the Moon, to which Sleep the swift acquired motion 

 may very much contribute. . . . Now it is likely these Birds 

 being there, where they have no Objects to divert them, may 

 shut their Eyes, and so swing on fast asleep, till they come where 

 some change of Air (as a middle Kegion about the Moon or 

 Earth) may by its cold awaken them. Add to this, that this 

 sleep spares their Provisions ; for if (as some would have it) 

 Cuckows and Swallows can lie asleep half the Year without 

 eating, why cannot these in as deep a sleep as well for two 

 Months forbear it" (pp. 43-45). 



The moon is not, of course, a stationary body in the heavens, 

 and so " it cannot be supposed," our author continues, that the 

 birds at the outset of their journey " direct their Course to the 

 Moon, but rather offended by the Steams of the Earth do tend 

 directly from it, and that straight Line 'tis probable they 

 pursue, till they come so near the Moon, that she is their fairest 

 Object to draw their Inclination ; for if the Moon hath a 

 Motion in a Month about the Earth, then at the two Months 

 end they find it in |he same Line of direction where it was when 

 they began their Journey ; for, suppose it Full Moon at the 

 place where they began, just at two Months end, it will be Full 

 Moon again to the same place which they left ; therefore if they 

 proceed in the same straight Line, they will be sure to meet the 

 Moon in their Way. . ." 



In a postscript, which occupies pp. 48-50, the author meets 

 the objection which the great distance between the earth and 

 the moon sets up by stating that there may be nearer bodies of 

 small size, which he likens to rocky islets in the sea, " which 

 may be the Recess of these Creatures, and may serve for little 

 else but their Entertainment." And he concludes his essay 

 with the statement, which at any rate few will dispute, that " if 



