17 
on the migration of birds. 
with the choice before it of almost any part of Europe for its 
annual excursion, should so uniformly not only revisit this 
island, but even select the same spot for its breeding place, 
is certainly a wonderful occurrence. But if birds were not 
instinctively directed to return to their old haunts, should 
we not find them over crowding some situations, while others 
would be left desolate ? And would not this be the case if the 
search of food was the object of their migration ? However 
it may be admissible, in one point of view, to consider the 
bird in its state of migration from this country, as a nearer 
neighbour than at first might be conceived, if we may be 
allowed to consider distance, or space, in the instance before 
us, as governed by the power of progressive motion, of what 
consequence is it to the swift, which, to use the animated 
expression of Mr. White, “ dashes through the air with the 
“ inconceivable swiftness of a meteor/' whether he comes to 
us from some neighbouring country, or the shores of Africa? 
The wonder excited by the return of these birds again to 
their old nesting places, would at once cease, if we could be- 
lieve what has been asserted by some naturalists, and gained 
credit with many, namely, that at the time they disappear 
from us, they submerse themselves in ponds and rivers, and 
in this situation become torpid. If this idea had not been en- 
couraged and supported by some new hypothesis, I should 
hardly have thought it necessary to have taken any serious 
notice of it; but as the matter now stands, I will just state 
my opinion, why I think it impossible for any birds to be dis- 
posed of in this way. 
Permit me first to call to your recollection the season of 
the year at which many of these birds disappear. It happens 
MDCCCXXIV. D 
