110 
MIGRATION AND FLIGHT. 
a mutual greeting and cheering ; and from that 
moment they remain till their broods are reared, and 
the business for which they resorted thither entirely 
at an end. 
The light-keeper spoke with pleasure of the arri- 
val of the birds, stating, that they looked to their 
return as that of so many old acquaintances after a 
long absence, announcing the spring to he at hand, 
and the winter to he over and gone. 
It has been observed, that the time of departure of 
certain birds is by no means so exact as that of their 
arrival ; which may be accounted for by a natural 
disinclination on the part of the old ones to desert 
the nests of young ones, still requiring their care. 
But even this most powerful of all instincts, the 
attachment of a parent to its young, is not in all 
cases strong enough to conquer the still stronger im- 
pulse for migration ; for Swallows will actually 
desert their nests, and leave helpless little ones to 
perish by hunger, rather than remain long after their 
companions. A pair of Martins which had deserted 
their family in the autumn, on returning in the 
spring, were observed to draw out the dead bodies 
of three nearly full-fledged nestlings. Another pair 
acted in a different manner ; after vainly endeavour- 
ing to drag out the bodies which had most probably 
formed a dried mass with the wool and feathers in the 
interior, they entirely closed up the opening of the 
nest with clay, and leaving them thus entombed, 
proceeded to build another nursery. 
As much interest and amusement may be derived 
from watching and expecting the arrival and de- 
parture of our migratory birds, we annex a list of a 
