as the moss on the trees on which it lives. This circumstance must render it difficult to be seen in the dense forests which it inhabits.

Nor is this a solitary instance of the peculiar care of a benevolent Creator for His creatures. When birds have been found on little rocky islands, where no fresh water whatever is to be met with. the bills of the birds are all strong, enabling them to squeeze the juice from berries into the mouths of their young, and thus to supply the want of water. If we examine and enquire into the recent discoveries of plants and animals in Australia, we shall find much that is new to us, but all beautifully organized and arranged, and affording proofs of the inexhaustible power of Almighty God. These discoveries are bursting upon us day after day, surprising us with wonder at their novelty, and exciting our curiosity to discover the cause of their peculiar formation.

Migratory animals are well adapted by their peculiar habits and shapes for the task which has been allotted them. When the annual great migration of Storks takes place in the Archipelago, those young ones which are not able to fly are placed on the backs of the old birds. The Quail would appear to be incapable of a long migration, but it flies near the ground, and seldom

* An active and intelligent naturalist, Mr. Mummery, of Mar

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more than a few hundred yards at a time. Woodcocks may be almost called nocturnal birds. They feed in the night, and also perform their migrations in the night, and are admirably adapted to do this from their peculiar structure. There is also another circumstance respecting the woodcock which may not be generally known. This bird is now ascertained to breed very frequently in many parts of England and Scotland; the nests, which almost invariably contain four eggs, are found in warm and dry situations, and as soon as the eggs are hatched the old birds immediately remove the young ones by taking them up in their feet, and conveying them to soft ground where they can find worms or insects. I have been assured by an officer of rank in the army, that he has not only repeatedly seen the removal of the young birds in this manner, but that his companion shot an old bird with a young one in its claws. If the woodcock were to build in low, swampy situations, the eggs, which are laid early in the Spring, would be liable to be chilled from rains, or perhaps flooded over. It is a peculiar instinct, therefore, which induces the bird to make its nest

gate, informs us that some quails remain all the year in the Isle of Thanet, and breed there. Mr. Mummery also informs us that he considers that he has discovered two distinct species of the wheatear. J. M.

in dry spots, and to remove the young to places more adapted to their habits.

Quails, although migratory birds, breed to a great extent in this country, and appear to have favourite localities. In one district in Essex, numerous eggs have been found during the mowing season, and as many as sixty couples of these birds have been killed in the course of a few days' shooting on one manor in that county. In many other parts of England it is very seldom indeed that a quail is found.

It is an interesting fact respecting the Quail, and one clearly proved by Mr. Yarrell, in his interesting work on "British Birds," that it was the food of the Israelites in the wilderness. The common quail (Coturnix dactylisonans) is the only species that migrates in enormous multitudes, or indeed that migrates at all. The instinct of the bird was, therefore, made use of by Almighty God to supply the wants of His famishing people; "and it affords," says Mr. Yarrell, “a proof of the perpetuation of an instinct through a period of 3300 years." It does not pervade a whole species, but that part of a species existing within certain geographical limits; an instinct characterised by a peculiarity, which modern observers have also noticed, of making their migratory flight by night. We read in the sixteenth chapter of Exodus, "And it came to pass that at

even (probably night) the quails came up and covered the camp." Thus we see the most ancient of all historical works, and natural history, each throwing lights on each other.

How

I have always considered that the instinct which has been implanted in defenceless birds to make their migrations by night, affords a very extraordinary and delightful proof of the care and tenderness of a benevolent Creator towards His creatures. If such birds as the quail, woodcock, snipe, nightingale, swallow, &c., performed their migrations in the daytime, they would be subject to the attacks of birds of prey, and also of man. seldom does it strike us that so many of the little migratory warblers, which come to us in the spring, enlivening our walks, and delighting us with their music, have so lately had a midnight flight over extensive seas, guided by His hand who watches over them, and who has declared that not even a sparrow is forgotten by Him. What a strong inducement should this consideration be to every one to avoid every species of cruelty, and to treat with care and with kindness those animals, which a good and beneficent Being himself protects and provides for.

The exterminating propensity of man has deprived us of many birds, and some quadrupeds, which formerly were found in this country. The Bustard no longer stalks over our downs, and the

noble Eagle is seldom to be seen making its beautiful gyrations over our heads. The hoarse croak of the Raven is rarely heard, or its interesting flight seen; and the pretty little Owl (Strix passerina), and the lesser Bittern, once so common, are only looked at as objects of curiosity when accidentally met with.