354 
RURAL HOURS. 
His creatures, but adds to the cup of life so many innocent pleas- 
ures. Some birds are stationary, and, doubtless, it would have 
been easy to have ordered that all should be so ; but now we 
find that many of the most beautiful and pleasing of the race 
pass and repass annually over a broad expanse of the earth, giv- 
ing and receiving enjoyment as they move onward. Many of 
those which are the most cheering and delightful spread them 
selves over half the earth : among these are the delicate wrens 
and humming-birds, the gay swallows, those noble singers, the 
thrushes ; while the larger and more dangerous birds of prey 
are few in numbers, and chiefly confined to particular regions. 
No doubt the change of food, of air, of climate, is a source of en- 
joyment to the birds ; nay, the very effort of the journey itself 
is probably accompanied with that gratification which is usually 
connected with the healthful, natural exercise of the higher pow- 
ers of every living being. And how much delight do they afford 
mankind ! Their first appearance, with the hopeful hours of 
spring ; their voices, their pleasing forms, their cheerful move- 
ments, nay, their very departure in autumn, all bring to our hearts 
some pleasures, and thoughts, and feelings, which we should not 
know without them. Wanderers though they be, yet the birds of 
one’s native ground are a part of home to us. 
Perhaps the birds generally follow the sanae course, year after 
year, in their annual journeyings. There are facts which lead one 
to believe so. It is already proved that the same individuals, of 
various tribes, will return to the same groves for many successive 
seasons. It has also been observed that certain birds are seen to 
the north and south of a particular region every year ; but within 
certain limits they are never met with. Like the house-wren, for 
