MIGRATION. 
S54 
beginning of October; circulate firft round ourfhores; 
and, when compelled by fevere froft, betake themfelves to 
our lakes and rivers. Of the web-footed fowl there are 
fome of hardier conftitutions than others; thef* endure 
the ordinary winters of the more northern countries; 
but, when the cold reigns there with more than common 
rigour, they repair for Ihelter to thefe kingdoms. This 
regulates the appearance of fome of the diver kind, as alfo 
of the wild fwans, the i'wallow-tailed fhield-duck, and the 
different forts of goofanders which then vifit our coafts. 
Barenta found the barnacles with their nefts in great 
numbers in Nova Zembla. (Col left. Voy. Dutch Eujl- 
India Comp. 1703.) Cluiius ( Exot. 368.) alfo obferves, 
that the Dutch difcovered them on the rocks of that 
country and in Waygate-liraits. They, as well as the 
other fpecies of wild geefe, go very far north to breed, as 
appears from the hiftories of Greenland and Spitzbergen, 
by Egede and Crantz. Thefe birds feem to make Iceland 
a refting-place, as Horrebow obferves ; few continue there 
to breed, but only vifit that ifland in the fpring, and after 
a Ihort flay retire Hill farther north. 
30. Coi'vorunts. The corvorant and fliag breed on moft 
of our high rocks ; the gannet in fome of the Scotch ides 
and on the coail of Kerry ; the two firft continue on our 
{hores the whole year. The gannet difperfes itfelf all 
round the feas of Great Britain, in purfuit of the herring 
and pilchard, and even as far as the Tagus to prey on the 
lardina. 
Of the numerous fpecies of fowl here enumerated, it 
may be obferved how very few entruft themfelves to us 
in the breeding-leafon, and what a diftant flight they 
make to perform the firft great didlate of nature. There 
ieems to be fcarcely any but what we have traced to 
Lapland, a country of lakes, rivers, fwamps, and alps, 
covered with thick and gloomy forefts, that afford ftiel- 
ter during fummer to thefe fowls, which in winter dif- 
perfe over the greateft part of Europe. In thole arftic 
regions, by real'on of the thicknefs of the woods, the 
ground remains moift and penetrable to the woodcocks, 
and other flender-billed fowl; and, for the web-footed 
birds, the waters afford larva; innumerable of the tor¬ 
menting gnat. The days there are long ; and the beau¬ 
tiful meteorous nights indulge them with every opportu¬ 
nity of collecting fo minute a food ; whilft mankind is 
very fparingly fcattered over that vaft northern v/afte. 
Why then ihould Linnceus, the great explorer of thefe 
rude deferts,be amazed at the myriads of water-fowl that 
migrated with him out of Lapland? which exceeded in 
multitude the army of Xerxes ; covering, for eight whole 
days and nights, the furface of the river Calix ! His par¬ 
tial obfervation as a botanift, would confine their food to 
the vegetable kingdom, almoft denied to the Lapland wa¬ 
ters ; inattentive to a more plenteous table of infeCt-food, 
which the all-bountiful Creator had fipread for them in 
the wildernefs. It may be remarked, that the lakes of 
•mountainous rocky countries in general are deftitute of 
plants ; few or none are feen on thole of Swifferland; and 
Linnaeus makes the lame obfervation in relpeCf to thofe 
of Lapland. 
Having fhown, from the bell authorities, at what fea- 
fons the greater part of birds and other wild-fowl appear 
in this country, and difappear; we are next to enquire 
in what manner they difpole of themfelves in the inter¬ 
mediate time, and whether they do really make fucli long 
journeys as Mr. Pennant and others luppofe. And here 
our enquiry will be more particularly directed to the ge¬ 
nus Hirundo, including the fwallow, martin, fwift, &c. 
but firft we lhall give a ihort abftraCl of the arguments 
ufed by the Hon. Daines Barrington againft the migra¬ 
tion of birds in general, from a paper publilhed by him 
in the 6 zd volume of the Piiilofophical TranfaClions. 
This gentleman denies that any well-attefted inftances 
can be produced of this fuppofed migration ; which, he 
thinks, if there were any fuch periodical flight, could not 
pollibly have elcaped the frequent obfervation of teamen. 
It has indeed been afferted that birds of paflage becoms 
invifible in their flight, becaufe they rife too high in the 
air to be perceived, and becaufe they choofe the night for 
their paflage. The author, however, expreffes his doubt* 
“ whether any bird was ever feen to rife to a greater height 
than perhaps twice that of St. Paul’s crofs and he fur¬ 
ther endeavours to (how, that the extent of fome of thefe 
fuppofed migrations (from the northern parts of Europe, 
for mltance, to the line) is too great to be accounted for, 
by having recourle to the argument founded on a noc¬ 
turnal paflage.. 
The author next recites, in a chronological order, all 
the inftances that he has been able to collebl, of birds hav¬ 
ing been actually feen by mariners when they were croflf- 
ing a large extent of lea; and he endeavours to lhow that 
no,ftrefs can be laid on the few cafual obfervations of 
this kind that have been produced in fupport of the doc¬ 
trine of a regular and periodical gradation. 
Upon the fubjefl of the migration of the fwallow, there 
are three opinions. Some fay that it migrates to.a warmer 
climate; fome, that it retires to hollow trees and caverns, 
where it lies in a torpid ftate ; and others have affirmed, 
that it lies in the fame ftate in the bottom of lakes and 
under the ice. The firft opinion isfupported by Marfigli, 
Ray, Willoughby, Catefby, Reaumur, Adanfon, Buffon, 
&c. The firft and fecond opinion are both adopted by 
Pennant and White. The third is fan&ioned by Schaef¬ 
fer, Hevelius, Derham, Klein, Ellis, Linnseus, and Kalin ; 
and the fecond and third have been ftrongly defended by 
Daines Barrington. 
Though we cannot help giving a preference to that 
opinion which appears the moft probable, yet we do not 
think that any one of them is eltablilhed upon fuch evi¬ 
dence as fo curious a fubjeft requires, and as the ad¬ 
vanced ftate of natural hiftory would lead us to expert. 
We lhall therefore ftate the arguments upon which each 
opinion is founded as fairly and diilindtly as we can, and 
as often as pofiible in the very words of their refpeelive 
advocates. By doing fo, we lhall place the whole fubje£t 
before the eyes of our readers, who will thus have an op¬ 
portunity of examining it attentively, and of making 
luch oblervations and experiments as may lead to the 
truth. 
1. Thofe who aflert that the fwallow migrates to a war* 
mer country in winter, argue in this manner : That many 
birds migrate, is a fadt fully proved by the obfervation* 
of natural hiftorians. Is it not more probable, therefore, 
that lwallows, which difappear regularly every feafon, re¬ 
tire to fome other country, than that they lie in a ftate of 
torpor in caverns or lakes ? But this opinion does not 
reft on probability ; it is founded on faffts. 
We often fee them colledled in great flocks on churches, 
rocks, and trees, about the time when they annually dif¬ 
appear. The direction of their flight has been oblerved 
to be fouthward. Mr. White, the ingenious hiftorian of 
Selborne, travelling near the coaft of the Britilh Channel 
one morning early, faw a flock of lwallows take their de¬ 
parture. At the beginning of his journey he was envi¬ 
roned with a thick fog; but on a large wild heath the 
mill began to break, and difcovered to him numberlef* 
fwallows, cluftered on the Handing bulhes, as if they had 
roolted there; as foon as the fun burll out, they were in- 
ftantly on wing, and with an eafy and placid flight pro¬ 
ceeded towards the lea. After this he law no more flocks, 
only now and then a llraggler. 
Mr. Lalkey of Exeter obferved attentively the direflion 
which a flock of fwallows took in the autumn of 1793. 
On the zzd of September, about feven o’clock in the 
morning, the wind being eaiterly, accompanied with a 
cold drizzling rain, Mr. Lalkey’s houfe was entirely co¬ 
vered with houle-fwallows. At intervals large flocks ar¬ 
rived and joined the main body, and at their arrival an 
unufual chirping commenced. The appearance of the 
whole company was fo lethargic, that he found it an ealy 
matter to catch a conliderable number of them, which he 
.kept 
