BLUE BIRD. 
63 
works of Hernandez, Piso, and others, that it is well known 
in Mexico, Guiana, and Brazil ; and, if so, the place of its 
winter retreat is easily ascertained, without having recourse 
to all the trumpery of holes and caverns, torpidity, hybernation, 
and such ridiculous improbabilities. 
Nothing is more common in Pennsylvania than to see large 
flocks of these birds, in spring and fall, passing at considerable 
heights in the air ; from the south in the former, and from 
the north in the latter season. I have seen, in the month of 
October, about an hour after sunrise, ten or fifteen of them 
descend from a great height, and settle on the top of a tall 
detached tree, appearing, from their silence and sedateness, 
to be strangers, and fatigued. After a pause of a few" minutes, 
they began to dress and arrange their plumage, and continued 
so employed for ten or fifteen minutes more ; then, on a few 
warning notes being given, perhaps by the leader of the party, 
the whole remounted to a vast height, steering in a direct line 
for the southwest. In passing along the chain of the Bahamas 
towards the West Indies, no great difficulty can occur, from 
the frequency of these islands ; nor even to the Bermudas, 
which are said to be six hundred miles from the nearest part 
of the continent. This may seem an extraordinary flight for 
so small a bird ; but it is, nevertheless, a fact that it is per- 
formed. If we suppose the Blue Bird in this case to fly only 
at the rate of a mile per minute, which is less than I have 
actually ascertained him to do over land, ten or eleven hours 
would be sufficient to accomplish the journey; besides the 
chances he would have of resting places by the way, from the 
number of vessels that generally navigate those seas. In like 
manner, two days at most, allowing for numerous stages for 
rest, would conduct him from the remotest regions of Mexico 
to any part of the Atlantic States. When the natural history 
of that part of the continent and its adjacent isles is better 
known, and the periods at which its birds of passage arrive 
and depart, are truly ascertained, I have no doubt but these 
suppositions will be fully corroborated. 
