quently employed by sailors for determining the course and position of their vessel, either by means of its altitude or its distance from the Moon; whence the longitude of the place of observation may be found from the chronometer. The Pleiades are situated on the neck of the bull, north-west of the Hyades; they consist of seven small bright stars, the largest of which is of the 3d magnitude, and is called Lucida Pleiadum. This group passes vertically over the deserts of Arabia, Bengal, the southern parts of China, California, and the Straits of Florida. It was obviously one of those which attracted early notice, as the various allusions to it in the writings of antiquity sufficiently prove. JOB mentions the Pleiades (ix, 9) in conjunction with Arcturus and Orion. [To be continued.] The Naturalist's Diary For OCTOBER 1823. When I see leaves drop from their trees, in the beginning of Autumne, just thus, thinke I, is the friendship of the world. Whiles the sap of maintenance lasts, my friends swarme in abundance; but in the winter of my need, they leave me naked. He is an happy mau that hath a true friend at his need: but he is more truly happy that hath no need of his friend.-Warwick's Spare Minutes. To a contemplative mind few pleasures afford more gratification than an autumnal morning's ramble: each season furnishes its own enjoyments and has its separate votaries; but there are accompaniments to that of autumn, independent of the peculiar temperament of the air, which are singularly impressive; it is, however, the woodlands now that exhibit the most strongly marked character; many of the mossy tribe, at this season, are in full verdure, and the root of an old tree becomes a landscape with its mountains and forests; for, as an old poet says, oft the small flower layeth Its fairy gem beside the giant-tree, сс The lichen is advancing in all its various forms; the fungi, in this and the succeeding month, are found in all their splendour, and with a variety and elegance. of appearance of which an observer only can be fully sensible: what can be more beautiful than to see these highly decorated children of Flora in all their youthful freshness and splendour? The verdigris agaric. (ag. æruginosus) just risen from its humid, mossy bed shining with the morning dew, its veil festooned around it, besprinkled with gems of moisture, glittering like a circlet of emeralds and topazes, must be the admiration of all who view it! The squirrel, gambolling round the root of an antient oak, whose base perhaps is overgrown with the dew-berry bush (rubus cæsius), its fruit mature, covered with unsullied bloom; the spider watching immoveable in the centre of his toils; the nut-hatch cleaving his prize in the hollow of some dry bough; the loud laugh of the green woodpecker, full of hilarity; the scream of the jay, are all symbols of this season, and are distinctly marked in the silence and loneliness of the scene, forming a series of accompaniments which make a sensible and perhaps more permanent impression on the memory, than the verdant promises of Spring, or the profusion of Summer: the young mind which can feel and understand these delights of the country, will say, with the poet, Oh, let me still with simple Nature live, In this month, some summer birds of passage, of which the swallow is the first, take their departure for warmer regions, returning to us in the spring. Many of the small-billed birds that feed on insects disappear when the cold weather commences. The throstle, the red-wing, and the fieldfare, which migrated in March, now return; and the ring-ouzel arrives from the Welsh and Scottish Alps to winter in more sheltered situations. About the middle of the month, the common martin disappears; and, shortly afterwards, the smallest kind of swallow, the sand-martin, and the stone-curlew, migrate. The Royston or hooded crow (corvus cornix) arrives from Scotland and the northern parts of England, being driven thence by the severity of the season. The woodcock returns, and is found on our eastern coasts. Migrating birds may be divided into two classes, from the different seasons of the year in which they arrive or depart. To the first class will belong those birds which arrive in this country in the spring, and depart from it in autumn, and are termed Summer Birds of Passage. The second will include those which arrive in autumn, and depart in spring, and are called Winter Birds of Passage. The SUMMER BIRDS OF PASSAGE are not confined to any particular order or tribe; nor are they distinguished by similarity of habits. Some of them belong to the division of water fowls, as the terns and gulls; while others are land birds, as the swallow and corn-crake. They differ also remarkably with regard to their food. Thus, the hobby is carnivorous; the gulls and terns, piscivorous; the swallow, insectivorous; and the turtle dove and the quail, granivorous. They, however, present one point of resemblance. All of them, during their residence in this country, perform the important offices of pairing, incubation, and rearing their young; and hence may, with propriety, be termed the natives of the country. We hail their arrival as the harbingers of spring, and feel the blank which they leave on their departure, although it is, in some measure, supplied by another colony of the feathered race, who come to spend with us the dreary months of winter. The swallow, about whose migrations so many idle stories have been propagated and believed, departs from Scotland about the end of September, and from England about the middle of October. In the latter month M. Adanson observed them on the shores of Africa after their migrations from Europe. He informs us, however, that they do not build their nests in that country, but only come to spend the winter. M. Prelong has not only confirmed the observations of Adanson in reference to swallows, but has stated, at the same time, that the yellow and grey wagtails visit Senegal at the beginning of winter. The former (motacilla flava) is well known as one of our summer visitants. The nightingale departs from England about the beginning of October, and from the other parts of Europe about the same period. During the winter season it is found in abundance in Lower Egypt, among the thickest coverts, in different parts of the Delta. These birds do not breed in that country, and to the inhabitants are merely winter birds of passage. They arrive in autumn and depart in spring, and at the time of migration are plentiful in the islands of the Archipelago. The quail is another of our summer guests, which has been traced to Africa. A few, indeed, brave the winters of England, and in Portugal they appear to be stationary. But, in general, they leave this country in autumn, and return in spring. They migrate about the same time from the eastern parts of the Continent of Europe, and visit and revisit, in their migrations, the shores of the Mediterranean, Sicily, and the islands of the Archipelago. While these birds perform those extensive migrations which we have here mentioned, others are contented with shorter journeys. Thus, the razor-billed auk (alca torda), and the puffin (alca arctica), frequent the coast of Andalusia during the winter season, and return to us in the spring. : These facts, and many others of a similar nature, which might have been stated, enable us to draw the conclusion, that our summer birds of passage come to us from southern countries, and, after remaining during the warm season, return again to milder regions. A few of our summer visitants may winter in Spain or Portugal; but it appears that, in general, they migrate to Africa, that unexplored country possessing every variety of surface, and consequently great diversity of climate. It is true that we are unacquainted with the winter retreats of many of our summer birds of passage, particularly of small birds; but as these arrive and depart. under similar circumstances with those whose migrations are ascertained, and as the operations which they perform during their residence with us are also similar, we have a right to conclude that they are subject to the same laws, and execute the same movements. What gives weight to this opinion, is the absence of all proof of a summer bird of passage retiring to the north during the winter season. To a BIRD of PASSAGE. Away! away! thou Summer Bird, Away! for vapours, damp and low, Away! away! o'er earth and sea, Nor casts one backward look, nor grieves Why should he grieve? the beam he loves No matter where our fate may guide us, Literary Gazette. |