468 MIGRATION OF VARIOUS BIRDS AND INSECTS. 



increased at length to upwards of a hundred, and they remained 

 on board until the vessel almost entered the Thames. The exact 

 direction from which they came could not be very well ascertained, as 

 they descended from an invisible height in the air to the call of those 

 which were in the ship ; and after wheeling two or three times round 

 the vessel to reconnoitre, joined their companions on board. They 

 appeared to arrive from the English coast, and there can be little or 

 no doubt but that they did so. 



This last species, I believe, has not, heretofore, been known to 

 migrate ; in fact, attention has never, perhaps, been directed to the 

 subject, it having probably been supposed, from analogy, that the 

 species was resident in this country throughout the year. I have 

 long, however, had some suspicions on this subject, from their being so 

 frequently taken by the London bird-catchers about Michaelmas, in 

 situations where, I am confident, they are never found during the 

 summer. I have never heard of their being taken near the metropolis 

 at any other time of the year, though I know of one locality, within 

 ten miles of London, where a few pairs annually breed. After the 

 ocular testimony, however, which is above related, there can be little 

 doubt but that the tree sparrow will prove to be a bird of passage. 



The fact, also, of redbreasts, and of starlings, crossing the German 

 Ocean is curious and new. An astonishingly vast migration of the gold- 

 crested regulus has been described by that admirable observer, 

 Mr. Selby, who saw them arrive by thousands on the sand-banks of 

 the Northumbrian coast, and the flight was traced throughout the 

 whole length of the coasts of Northumberland and Durham. Is it not 

 astonishing, after such direct testimony has been recorded of the actual 

 migration of so delicate and tender a little creature as the gold- crest, 

 that persons should yet be found who doubt that swallows ever cross 

 the sea ? What would not White of Selborne have given for such 

 direct evidence of migration as is here recorded ? 



The number and variety of the species, which my informant observed, 

 are, indeed, so extraordinary, that if I did not know my source of 

 information to be respectable, I should have felt great hesitation in 

 thus making it public. I have seen, however, several of the birds 

 which were taken on board, and can quite safely vouch for the accuracy 

 of all that is above stated. It is worthy of notice, that the captain of 

 the ship remarked, that he had never known so many birds to alight 

 on his vessel before. What opportunities for observation must these 

 men have, if they were to devote but a little attention to natural 

 history I 



