ORNITHOLOGY. 
778 
afylum, during incubation, from the perfecution of man. 
In general, our fummer-birds of the migratory kind come 
from the fouth ; while thofe that remain with us during 
the winter-months can almoft be traced to the colder re¬ 
gions of Norwegian, Swedifh, and Ruffian, Lapland. 
We are informed by Linnaeus, that Lapland abounds, 
during fummer, with enormous quantities of infedls : 
and this is more or lefs the cafe with all the north of Eu¬ 
rope. The infe&ivorous birds, therefore, fuch as the 
cuckoo, goat-fucker, and all the tribe of fwallows, during 
the warm months, are there abundantly fupplied; but, 
on the clofe of that feafon, when their favourite food be¬ 
gins to fail, they regularly depart for the milder climes 
of the fouth. Among the quails and the ftorks this 
feems a preconcerted undertaking. They affemble toge¬ 
ther for fome days before their departure ; take different 
fliort flights, as if to train their young for the journey; 
and, by an odd kind of chattering, feem to debate upon 
the plan of their route. When thefe preliminaries are 
lettled, they all take their flight in a body, that they may 
more eafily oppofe their enemies; they often appear in 
fuch numbers, that to the mariners at fea they frequently 
feem like a cloud that refts upon the horizon. The 
boldeft, ftrongeft, and by far the greateft number, pro¬ 
bably make good their intention ; but many there are, 
who, not apprifed of their own want of ftrength for the 
arduous undertaking, grow weary in the way, and, quite 
fpent by the fatigue of their flight, drop down into the 
fea, or fall upon the decks of (hips, where they become 
equally a prey to the failors or the waves. The fummer- 
birds of our country are the different fpecies of fwallows, 
the rail, lapwing, goat-fucker, ring-ouzel, and green 
plover. It is far from being exactly afcertained where 
each of thefe genera retires during winter; but it is pro¬ 
bable the greater part refort to Africa, or to the more 
fouthem latitudes of Europe. See the article Migration, 
vol. xv. p. 352. 
Befides thofe birds that remain ftationary in the coun¬ 
try during the whole year, and thofe that regularly mi¬ 
grate at particular feafons, there are fome that may pro¬ 
perly be ftyled paffengers. By this title is underftood 
fuch as are found in a particular country only for a ffiort 
time, as they pafs from their fummer to their winter re- 
fidence. In North Britain, the king’s-fifher and the Bohe¬ 
mian chatterer come under this defcription. A fourth 
clafs of birds have been denominated wanderers, from 
their paffing alternately from one part of the fame coun¬ 
try to another, as induced by the weather. The curlew 
paffes the winter in the vicinity of the fea; and in fpring 
repairs regularly to the hilly country, where it paffes the 
fummer in incubation and rearing its young. At the 
end of fummer, thefe birds are feen again repairing in 
groups of three or four families to their winter-quarters 
upon the fltores. Two or three fpecies of gulls alfoleave 
the fea, and, on the approach of ltormy weather, take up 
their abode in the lakes of the interior parts of the coun¬ 
try. Tliofe birds that are obferved far from land, may 
alfo be termed wanderers ; fcarcely a (hip croffes the At¬ 
lantic, in which the failors do not fee fome of them 
perching upon the rigging : it is to be regretted that men 
of this profeffion feldom poffefs curiofity in a degree pro¬ 
portioned to their opportunity of gratifying it, otherwife 
the hiftory of birds of paffage might have derived much 
illuftration from their difcoveries. 
In the migration of many birds, there are peculiarities 
worthy of our notice. Some emigrate from a country to 
which they never again return; and of this we have a re¬ 
markable inftance in the magpie. About feventy years 
ago there was fcarcely a Angle individual of that fpecies 
feen in Ireland. At that period, they feem to have made 
a partial migration from Scotland; and they are at pre- 
fent as numerous in the former as in the latter country. 
The fame fpirit of colonization has been remarked among 
the woodlarks ; fome diftri&s of the country being now 
frequented by them where they formerly never appeared. 
It is obfervable, that fome migratory birds leave a coun¬ 
try one year, in which they are ftationary in another : thus 
the common wild-duck remains in Siveden duringa tempe¬ 
rate winter, but emigrates in a fevere one. This arifes from 
a very urgent motive, the want of food; and, from the 
fame caufe, it is probable that the wild-goofe, which in 
Sweden is only a fummer-bird, is ftationary in the north 
of Scotland. The fky-lark is permanent the whole year 
in Scotland, although it is a bird of paffage in Minorca : 
in England alfo, the fnipe is migratory, but ftationary in 
Scotland. 
Some birds migrate in queft of a particular kind of 
crop. In Cuba, the rice-bird is found in prodigious 
numbers during the feafon of that crop : the rice is no 
fooner gathered there, than it removes to Carolina, and 
meets the harveft in that country, where it remains till the 
rice-feafon is paft. It is to be remarked alfo of this and 
feveral other fpecies of birds, that the male and female fe- 
parale during the time of migration. Of the rice-bird, we 
are informed, that it is only the females that migrate to 
Carolina. In Sweden, a fpecies of duck alfo is found, of 
which the males leave the country at the time of incuba¬ 
tion, and do not return till the pairing-feafon. A far¬ 
ther peculiarity in fome migratory birds, is their obferv- 
ing a different route, while going to winter-quarters, 
from that by wfiich they return. The only certain ex¬ 
ample of tin's is the pigeon of paffage in North America : 
in its way from Canada, where it breeds in fummer, to 
Carolina, it perches upon the trees in Virginia during 
night. Many of the branches are found broken to the 
ground by the weight of the immenfe multitudes that 
perch upon them ; a circumftance which marks their route 
to the people of the interior country, who fupport them- 
felves by killing them. By this means their progrefs may 
be traced with great facility from morning till night dur¬ 
ing their whole journey; but, in their return to Ca¬ 
nada, in fpring, their track is altogether unknown. 
Of the Uses of Birds to the World and its Inhabitants. 
In the hiftory of birds, we muft not overlook thofe 
important ufes to which they are fubfervient in the eco¬ 
nomy of nature.—The rapacious kinds evidently ferve 
the important purpofe of preferving the falubrity of the 
air, by devouring all forts of carrion, every-where fcat- 
tered over the l'urface of the globe. The earth every¬ 
where teems with living creatures, whofe natural death, 
or accidental deftruftion, w-ould communicate to the at- 
mofpherea putrid and noxious influence, were the carcaf- 
fes allowed to diffolve and mingle with the foil by the 
flow procefs of corruption. The order of grallce, or wa¬ 
ders, are evidently deftined by nature to co-operate in the 
fame neceffary employment. They deftroy toads, frogs, 
lizards, and lerpents, animals noxious while alive, and 
whofe bodies, when dead, more or lefs infedt the air with 
putrid vapours. On this account, the inhabitants of Hol¬ 
land and of Egypt are greatly indebted to the labours of 
the ftork: in the latter country, which abounds with 
every hideous reptile which a humid foil or fultry fun 
can quicken into life, this favourite bird lives, even in its 
wild ftate, protected by the laws of that kingdom. 
The granivorous birds are alfo deemed of great utility 
in the fyftem of nature ; becaufe they abridge the ferti¬ 
lity of thofe plants which emit fuch immenfe quantities 
of feed as would foon overfpread the earth; and which, 
if left unreftrained, would infallibly overpower the more 
ufeful vegetables. Many fpecies are farther ufeful in 
tranfporting feeds from one country to another, and thus 
diffeminating plants more univerfally over the furface of 
the globe. Some of the water-fowl perform a fimilar 
fervice, by tranfporting the fpawn of different kinds of 
fifties, and replenifhing the waters where their inhabitants 
have been extirpated or diminiftied. The feeds of plants, 
and the fpawn of fifties, are in many inftances known to 
refill the digeftion of animals, and to pafs through their 
bodies unaiiimilated, and ftill in poffeffion of their proli¬ 
fic 
