SWALLOWS. 
247 
commotion amongst them, and within a few minutes they 
all took their departure, in a south-east direction, appearing 
to have entirely cast aside their torpidity, and to he as full 
of animation as ever. Their flight was at a great height, 
further than the eye could reach, to which they rose by several 
circumvolutions ; that is, flying round in large circles, just as 
Kites and Kavens do when they soar. About half an hour 
after they had flown off, two of those confined in the room 
were released. For about half a minute they flew exactly in 
the contrary direction from their companions, and seemed 
bewildered; they then, however, turned about, and darted 
away with the greatest velocity, in the same direction as the 
others. The remainder were let out in the course of the 
day, at intervals, between the hours of eleven and four 
o’clock, all of which took the same direction as their prede- 
cessors.” 
This is one of the most minute and satisfactory accounts 
of migration we ever met with ; and although these birds 
were not, in this case, compelled by immediate hunger (for 
the stomachs of several found dead were full of the remains 
of their common food, consisting of small insects, spiders, 
&c.), there nevertheless can he no doubt that one of their 
chief reasons for quitting us is want of food ; for in Ceylon, 
where the species are said to be similar to our own, # and 
where the climate is such as to allow of a perpetual supply 
of food, they never quit the island. Why, indeed, they ever 
should quit those favoured spots, where they can exist in the 
midst of plenty, without wandering to distant regions, is the 
most surprising part of their history ; and it is difficult to 
account for a flight of Swallows departing from the warm 
climate of the tropics, to pass their short Summers in such 
remote and uncongenial quarters of the globe as Iceland, in 
the north, and Port Famine, near Cape Horn, in the south, 
in both of which inhospitable regions they are found, as well 
as near the still more cheerless shores of Hudson’s Bay, where 
the supply of food is more particularly precarious, owing to 
* Pekciv A n’s Ceylon. 
