The foregoing are our principal migratory summer land birds. We now come to the most noted, and, we believe, the only summer water fowl, excepting perhaps the puffin, which we can with absolute cer tainty determine to be migratory. The gannet, so Ian, or soland goose, (pelicanus Bassanus). We ap prehend they breed in no other part of the world but Scotland, and there only in the rocky and steep isles of the Bass, Ailsa, and St Kilda. Pennant says, on the authority of Dr Pocock, bishop of Meath, that a few hatch on the Skelig isles, off the coast of Ker ry, in Ireland. This we rather doubt, although we shall neither offer to affirm nor contradict it. Smith, in his History of Kerry, seems to leave us in the dark respecting this matter. Gesner, Aldrovandus, and Jonston, call it anser Bassanus sive Scoticus. The chops of the solan goose are notched, or jagged like i a saw. The plumage of the old birds is of a dirty white, except the greater quill feathers, which are black ; but the whole body remains of a dark brown colour, somewhat spotted, until the second year of their age. They have a pouch under the chin, in which they can carry several sprats, pilchards, or her rings ; with these they feed' their young, who draw them out of this bag in a most artful manner. Their legs and toes are black, edged with a stripe of beau tiful green. Their wings are so very long, that when they light on the ground they have much difficulty in rising again. They lay, or at least hatch, but one egg. They appear in the firth of Forth in the month of March, and depart in the end of September. It has been said, however, that since the herrings wf late years have continued there in winter, many of the gannets bred upon the Bass never leave it. When they quit our firth, they fly along the coast of England, remain some time in the channel, especially about Cornwall, 'where they find immense shoals of pilchards ; and, when these become scarce, they then betake themselves farther to the south, and have been observed in December fishing for sardines, (a species of the genus clupea,) off the Berlingas, and the rock of Lisbon. We have seen several of the old birds (these are such as have changed their colour to white) during winter, in America. Indeed, we have eaten them there, and at that time had no doubts of their being emigrants from Scotland. The young gannets, while scarcely fledged, are brought from the to the Edinburgh market. They for a very long tract of years used to be sold at Is. 8d, but the price is now somewhat advanced, generally about 2s. each. In these isles they have a very dangerous me thod of taking gannets. Before they are able to fly,. a person is let down from the top of the perpen dicular rocks, hanging upon a long rope, which is tied about his waist, and, while thus suspended in the midway air, he is lowered, or drawn higher, from cleft to cleft, according to the management of those who hold it from above, and upon whom his sole de= pendence of preservation is placed. On the rough surge beneath a boat attends, into which, after kill ing them, he drops the birds from the nests above ; he sometimes, however, fixes them to a string, or puts them into a bag, which he has slung over his. shoulders for that purpose.
Of our migratory land birds that come to pass the winter with us, the first is the red wing, swine pipe, wind or wood thrush, (turdus iliacus) Its whole. appearance is similar to that of our common song thrush, but only smaller, and reddish under the wings. In its own country, Sweden, where it breeds, it most delightfully from the top of its favourite tree, the maple. It is almost mute while with us, and is a solitary bird, keeping at the bottom of hedges, or in bushes, excepting upon its arrival and departure, when they congregate. They are commonly seen a few days before the fieldfare, or juniper thrush, (tur-' dus pilaris,) who continue in large flocks during their residence here ; they frequently perch upon trees in the day time, but always roost upon the ground during the night. These two last-mentioned
birds are also migratory in Italy, and other parts of the south of Europe ' • they were the turdi of the Ro mans, which they fed with so much care and atten tion in their aviaries. When they became fat, they were highly esteemed by the epicures of these. days.
The woodcock (scolopay rusticola) appears gene--' rally with the Michaelmas moon, which favours its] flight across the German or northern sea. When they laud on our coast, they seem stupid and worn out with fatigue. This is somewhat surprising, as their passage is so much shorter than that of those birds from the southern climes, who are always fresh and vigorous when they first make their appearance in this country. Mr Pennant says, that woodcocks take the advantage of a mist, or of a thick night, in accomplishing their passage. We, on the contrary, have constantly observed more numerous arrivals when there were clear moonlight nights, than in dark and foggy weather. We also think, that their flight. depends more on that luminary than on the wind ; that is to say, if it does not blow very hard while the moon shines. Their departure from the northern parts of Europe, Norway, Sweden, &c. commences about the first week of October, and detached birdso as they seldom congregate, continue to migrate until the end of November. When they first arrive here they drop upon heaths, and among furze and other bushes, and, after having settled and rested for two or three days, betake themselves to coppice or wet woods ; there, and about the adjacent springs, they continue for the winter, unless often flushed, and driven off by men and dogs. Woodcock shooting is a favourite sport with our fowlers. The vast num bers that are sent, during the winter season by stage • coaches, from the provincial towns of England to the all-devouring capital, are truly astonishing. The American woodcock is in all respects the same as the European, only of less size. They return from Bri tain to their native haunts in February and the be ginning of March. • • The snow bunting, better known in Scotland by the name of snow flake, or flight, (emberiza tzivalis). It is late in the season before these birds shew them selves here ; they are commonly the heralds of hard and snowy weather, and sometimes, if fatigued, fall on vessels while on their passage across the Pentland Firth. We apprehend they do not quit Lapland, Norway, or the northern parts of America, until, by the heavy storms of these rigid climates, they arc forced to seek a comparatively milder temperature. It is said, that a few breed in the mountains of Scot land, but we never saw, nor indeed heard of, any per son who discovered during summer a nest, or even a straggling bird of that species. They arc not often observed in England, as their excursions to the south generally terminate in the Cheviot hills. They as semble in great flocks, are sudden in their arrival, and equally so in their departure.
The Bohemian or waxen chatterer, or the silk tail, (amFoli.s garrulus) is a singularly beautiful bird. It is bigger than a sky lark, the length, from the tip of the tail, being nine, and the breadth, when the wings are extended, twelve inches. The bill is of a deep black ; on its head there is a crest. The breast is chesnut, the belly ash, the back bay, the rump of a dun colour. The outward wing feathers black and spotted. Upon the tips of the seven small quills are horny appendages, of a fuse vermilion; somewhat resembling sealing wax. They are gregarious, and visit us but with a short stay, and that only in two or three years, and not annually, as alleged by Pen nant and the late Dr Ramsay. We have at different times seen small flocks of them about Collington, a village to the west of Edinburgh, where several have been shot, and afterwards preserved. They come al ways in February, remain a few days, and then re turn to their native country, Bohemia.