of a branch of a tree, the nest being so small that it cannot be seen by one standing on the ground beneath. It is round; is composed externally of fine green moss; and has its inside lined with soft down, collected either from the leaves of the great mullien, or from silk grass. The eggs,

of which the female lays two, are white, and of the size of

a pea.

During his stay at the Brazils, Mr. Forbes visited almost daily a lovely valley in the neighbourhood of St. Sebastian. "There," he observes, "thousands of nature's choristers, arrayed in all the brilliancy of tropical plumage, enlivened the extensive orange groves; and the humming-bird, the smallest and most lovely of the feathered race, buzzed like the bee, while sipping the nectareous dew from the blossoms of the flowers. Nothing can exceed the delicacy of these little beauties; especially of that which, from its minuteness, is called the fly-bird; its bill and legs are not thicker than a pin; its head, tufted with glossy jet, varies with every motion into shades of green and purple; the breast is of a bright flame colour; every feather, when viewed through a microscope, appears as if fringed with silver, and spotted with gold."

EDIBLE BIRDS' NESTS.

AMONG the interesting subjects which still remain open for research, are the habits and constitution of the HIRUNDO ESCULENTA, the small swallow which forms the edible nests, annually exported in large quantities from Java and the eastern islands for the Chinese market. These birds Governor Raffles observes, in his history of Java, not only abound among the cliffs and caverns of the south coast of that island, but inhabit the fissures and caverns of several of the mountains and hills in the interior of the country. From every observation which has been made in Java, it has been inferred that the mucilaginous substance of which the nests are formed, is not, as has been generally suppo sed, obtained from the ocean. The birds, it is true, generally inhabit the caverns in the vicinity of the sea, as agreeing best with their habits, and affording them the most convenient retreats to which to attach their nests; but several caveros are found inland, at a distance of forty or fifty miles

from the sea, containing nests similar to those on the shore. From many of their retreats along the southern coast, they have been observed to take their flight in an inland direc tion, towards the pools, lakes, and extensive marshes, covered with stagnant water, as affording them abundance of their food, which consists of flies, musquitoes, gnats, and small insects of every description. The sea, which washes the foot of the cliffs, where they most abound, is almost always in a state of the most violent agitation, and affords none of those substances which have been supposed to constitute the food of the esculent swallow. Another species of swallow in the island of Java, forms a nest, in which grass, moss, &c. are merely agglutinated by a substance exactly similar to that of which exclusively the edible nests consist. This substance, from whatever part of those regions the nests be derived, is essentially uniform, differing only in the colour, according to the relative age of the nests. It exhibits none of those diversities which might be expected, if, like the mud employed by the martin, and the ma terials commonly used in nest-making, it were collected casually, and applied to the rocks. Were it to consist of the substances usually supposed, it would be putrescent and diversified.

THE MIGRATION OF BIRDS.

Yea, the stork in the heavens knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle, and the crane, and the swallow, observe the time of their coming.

JEREMIAH.

Who bids the stork, Columbus like, explore
Heavens not his own, and worlds unknown before?
Who calls the council, states the certain day?
Who forms the phalanx, and who points the way?

POPE.

THE migration of birds, which is common to the quail, the stork, the crane, the fieldfare, the woodcock, the cuckoo, the martin, the swallow, and various others, is justly considered as one of the most wonderful instincts of nature. Two circumstances, Doctor Derham observes, are remarkable in this migration: the first, that these uninstructed creatures should know the proper times for their passage, when to come, and when to go, some departing while others

arrive; and, secondly, that they should know which way to steer their course, and whither to go.

Birds of passage are all peculiarly accommodated, by the structure of their parts, for long flights; and it is remarked that, in their migrations they observe a wonderful order and polity: they fly in troops, and steer their course, without the aid of compass, to vast unknown regions. The flight of wild geese, in a wedge-like figure, has often been observed; and it has been noticed that the three foremost, who are the soonest tired, retreat behind, and are relieved by others, who are again succeeded by the rest in order. At the approach of winter the wild ducks and cranes of the north fly in quest of more favourable climates. They all assemble, at a certain day, like swallows and quails, decamping at the same time. Their flight is highly curious: they generally range themselves in a long column like an I: or in two lines united in a point, like a V reversed. It is observed by Shaw, in his travels, that storks, about a fortnight before they pass from one country to another, constantly resort together from all the circumjacent parts, to a certain plain, and there forming themselves daily into what, in the popular phrase is, called a dou wanne, determine the exact time of their de parture, and the places of their future abode.

Swallows have often been observed, in innumerable flocks, on churches, rocks, and trees, previously to their departure from Great Britain; and their return, in apparently equal numbers, has been witnessed in a variety of instances. In Sweden, the starling, finding, after the middle of summer; that worms are less plentiful, goes annually into Scania, Germany, and Denmark. The female chaffinches, every winter about Michaelmas, go in flocks to Holland; but as the males stay in Sweden, the females come back in the spring, except such as do not chose to breed any longer. In the same manner, the female Carolina yellow-hammer, in the month of September, while the rice on which she feeds is laid up in granaries, goes towards the south, and returns in the spring to seek her mate. The aquatic birds of the north are forced by necessity to fly toward the south every autumn before the water is frozen. Thus the lakes of Poland and Lithuania are filled with swans and geese in the autumnal season, at which time they go in great flocks, along many rivers, as far as the Euxine sea. In the

beginning of spring, however, as soon as the heat of the sun molests them, they return back, and again frequent the borders of the springs and lakes, where the females deposit their eggs; for there, and especially in Lapland, a vast abundance of gnats-insects which live in the water before they get their wings-afford them an excellent nourishment. By these migrations, birds become useful to many countries, and are distributed over almost every part of the globe.

THE TERMITES, OR WHITE ANTS.

[See Plates, No. 54, 55.]

Or these very surprising insects naturalists describe four species, the largest of which is the TERMES BELLICOsus, or BELLIGERENT TERMITE. The nests of these insects are large handsome pyramids, ten or twelve feet and upwards above the surface of the earth, and as many beneath it. The second species is named the FATAL TERMITE, the nests of which are likewise of a pyramidal form, but neither so lofty nor extensive as the former. Its ravages, however, are more fatal, and its punctures more painful and dangerous. The BITING TERMITE forms the third species, and constructs its nest in the form of a cylindrical turret, four feet high, and one in diameter. The turret is covered with a conical roof, which projects some inches over, and beyond the building, doubtless to prevent it from being injured by the rain. The DESTROYING TERMITE constitutes the fourth species, and constructs spherical nests round the branch of a tree, which passes entirely through them.

The TERMES BELLICOSUS, according to Mr. Smeathman, whose account has appeared in the Philosophical Transactions, constructs works which surpass those of the bees, wasps, beavers, and other animals, as much at least as those of the most polished European nations excel those of the least cultivated savages. Even with regard to man, his greatest works, the boasted pyramids, fall comparatively far short, even in size alone, of the structures raised by these insects. The labourers among them employed in this service are not a quarter of an inch in length; but the structures which they erect, rise, as has already been observed, to the height of ten or twelve feet and upwards above the surface of the earth. Supposing the height of a man to be six feet, this author calculates, that the buildings