144 
ance. After their evening meal, they flew 
about the neighbourhood during the night, 
perching on the adjacent trees, and returning 
in the morning to their habitation in the 
garden. 
They continued thus attached for about a 
month, regularly wandering by night and re- 
turning in the morning. One day, however, 
on missing two of the number, Spallanzani, 
on calling them, received their answer from a 
neighbouring elm ; they refused, however, to 
descend, departed in the evening, and return- 
ed to the elm the next morning. Two days 
having elapsed since they had been fed by the 
hand of Spallanzani, he was resolved to sacri- 
fice one of the birds to his curiosity, and 
bringing it down by a gun, found, on ex- 
amining the stomach, the remains of Grass- 
hoppers. That it was one of the birds which 
had been tamed was beyond a doubt, since 
each bird had been marked by red silk tied 
round the leg, and which the - bird examined 
had on. 
The flight of these two was soon succeeded 
by that of the rest, and though the time of 
their emigration from the country was still 
