168 Mr Dick's Remarks on Prof. Hansteerts Account of a 
the prosecution of these objects, I had occasion to make several 
hundred observations, in different quarters of the heavens. As 
it was one particular object, in these observations, to determine 
the nearest position to the sun in which Venus could be seen, 1 
made numerous observations on this planet, when in the vicinity 
of that luminary. I was not a little surprised, at different times, 
when searching for the planet, to perceive a body pass across the 
field of the telescope, apparently of the same size as Venus, 
though sometimes larger and sometimes smaller ; so that I fre- 
quently mistook that body for the planet, till its rapid motion 
undeceived me. In several instances, four or five of these bo- 
dies appeared to cross the field of view, sometimes in a perpen- 
dicular, and, at other times, in a horizontal direction. They 
appeared to be luminous bodies, somewhat resembling the ap- 
pearance of a planet, when view ed in the day-time with a tele- 
scope of a moderate degree of magnifying power. Their mo- 
tion was nearly rectilinear, but sometimes inclined to a waving 
or serpentine form ; and they appeared to move with consider- 
able rapidity, the telescope being furnished with a power of 
about seventy times. I was, for a considerable time, at a loss 
what opinion to form as to the nature of these bodies ; but, ha- 
ving occasion to continue these observations almost every clear 
day, for nearly a twelvemonth, I had frequent opportunities of 
viewing this phenomenon in different aspects ; and was at length 
enabled to form a decisive opinion respecting its cause. In seve- 
ral instances, the bodies alluded to appeared much larger than 
usual, and to move with a more rapid velocity ; in which case, 
I could plainly perceive that they were nothing else than birds 
of different sizes, and apparently at different distances, the con- 
vex surface of whose bodies, in certain positions, strongly re- 
flected the solar rays. In other instances, when they appeared 
smaller, their true shape was undistinguishable by reason of 
their motion and their distance. In a hot summer's day, when 
making similar observations, I have perceived similar phenome- 
na, which I had every reason to attribute to a number of 
winged insects flying about at no great distance from the tele- 
scope. 
From a consideration of the facts now stated, it will, I pre- 
sume, appear highly probable that the phenomenon which M. 
