35 
on the migration of birds. 
plenty of food which gave plumpness to the one I examined, 
and doubtless to the whole flock, from their appearing so 
wild and vigorous. It clearly appears, that in their flight 
they exceeded the progress of the thaw, as the northern birds 
did that of the frost. This thaw, though it was again suc- 
ceeded by frost, came on very rapidly, and occasioned, by 
the sudden melting of the snow, those destructive inundations 
through the kingdom, that will not readily be forgotten. 
This account of the fieldfare sets the fact of migration, 
though from an accidental cause, beyond the reach of doubt. 
There was no support for it here ; the ground was deeply 
covered with snow, and the intense frost, by its long dura- 
tion, had destroyed every thing that could afford it succour ; 
it must, therefore, have taken a long flight from this coun- 
try, and returned to it again at the approach of temperate 
weather. 
Having already made so many digressions, I cannot add 
another without offering an apology ; but as there is some- 
thing so like providential design in the order in which the 
song birds chaunt out their warblings during a long sum- 
mers day, I trust the Society will pardon my laying before 
them the following observations on the subject. 
We must observe, that nature never gives one property 
only, to the same individual substance. Through every gra- 
dation from the clod we tread upon to the glorious sun which 
animates the whole terrestrial system, we may find a vast 
variety of purposes for which the same body was created. 
If we look on the simplest vegetable, or the reptile it sup- 
ports, how various, yet how important in the economy of 
nature, are the offices they are intended to perform ! The 
