Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/197

 PAS

PAS

feafon, not having been ever perfe&Iy known, fome have formed idle conjectures of their not going away, but remain- ing torpid in hollow trees, in caverns, and under waters ; but thefe are too abfurd to gain credit with the thinking part of the world ; and their whole journey feems directed by inftinfl toward fuch part* of the world as will afford them food, when .that whence they depart will no longer do fo : this want of food feems in all the fpecies to be the chief reafon of their departure; and the plenty of it in an after-feafon, that of their return from a place which then, perhaps, affords it no

more. . . ..

1 he generality of birds that remain the winter with us, have ftrong bills, or are enabled to feed on what they can find at that feafon ; thofe which leave us, have ufually very flendcr bills, and their food is the infects of the fly kind ; which difapp^'iring toward the approach of winter, compel them to feek them in regions where they may be found ; and the length of the wings of thegenerality of thefe birds, enables them to prey flying, if there be food for them in their way, stid to continue a long time on the wing without reft. The various conjectures about the places to which they re- tire, are owing to want of ocular teftimony ; but if we consider the van: tracts of land yet unknown to us, we cannot doubt but there may be many places for them, in which we can have had no opportunities of finding them. But the moft probable conjecture feems, that the places to which they re- lire lie probably in the fame latitude in the iouthern hemi- fphere, as the places from whence they depart; where the feafons reverting, they may enjoy the like agreeable tempe- rature of the air. And if thefe places are fuppofed to be di- vided from them by too large feas, why may not fome other parts of the fouthern hemifphere, which are lefs diftant, ferve their turn ?

This, certainly, feems much more reafonable than that they fhould remain on our fide of the northern tropic, within a few degrees of which, at the winter foiflice, it is fo cold as frequently to produce mow; which, by dilperfing fuch infects as birds that feed upon the wing fubfift on, muft make them perifh were they not to remove to thofe warmer climates where they may ftill find food.

The fwaliows, as they cannot fubfift fo long in cold feafons as fome other birds of pajdgc y which feed after the difappear- ance of flies in the air, on what infects they find in their re- cefles, vifit us later, and depart from us fooner, than the reft. The nightingales, and fome other birds, which leave us for the winter, are feen, fometimes, a month after the fwaliows : and from the whole it feems natural to infer, that the fwal- iows pafs the tropic of Cancer, tho' it is not yet known to what place they at length retire.

The manner of the birds of pajfage, journeying to their fou- thern abode, may vary, according to the different ftructure of their bodies, and their power of fupporting themfelves in the air. Thofe birds with fhort wings, fuch as the redftart, blackcap, c5Y. tho' they are incapable of fuch long flights as the fwallow, or of flying with fo much celerity, yet may pafs to lefs diftant places, and by flower movements. Swal- lows and cuckows, may perform their paflage in a very fhort time ; but there is for them no neceffity for fpeed, fince every day's paflage affords them an increafe of warmth, and a con- tinuance of food.

Providence, which has guided the defcncelefs animals in many other inftances to the fafeft methods of performing their ne- ceflary works, may have inftructed many of thefe birds which have fhorter paflages to make, or places to ftop at by the way, to fly only in the night, that they may be fecure from the birds of 'prey: and Mr. Catefby gives a proof that fome fpecies do fo, from his own obfervation ; for lying on the deck of a floop on the north fide of Cuba, himfelf and the whole company, heard fucceflively, for three nights, flights of rice birds, which are eafily diftinguifned from all others birds by their notes, and which were pafling over their heads norther- ly; which is their direct way from Cuba, and the fouthern continent of America, from whence they got to Carolina, annually about the rime that rice begins to ripen, and from whence they return fouthward again, when it is gathered, and they are become fat.

The fhort winged birds are fuppofed little qualified for long flights, particularly the quail, which is a bird never feen long together on the wing, or making any long flights : its not doing this frequently, Is, however, no proof that it is not able to do it; nor does the ftructure of its body at all be- fpeak its inability : and Bellonius affirms, that he faw them in great flights pafling over, and repaffmg, the Mediterranean fea at the very feafons when they leave us, and return to us again. The fame inflinct that directs thefe birds to depart to diftant countries, doubtlcfs, alfo directs them to the fhorteft way and fends them to the narroweft cuts, not the wider feas to crofs.

Among the birds of paffage, we have fome alfo which come to us in the autumn, at the time when the. fummer birds are leaving us ; and go from us again in the fpring at the times when thefe return : thefe, however, are only four kinds ; the fieldfare, the redwing, the woodcock, and the fnipe ; and of thefe, the two laft often continue with us thro' the fummer,

and breed ; fo that the two firft feem the only kinds that cer* tainly leave us at the approach of fpring, retiring to more northern parts of the continent, where they live the fummer and breed ; and at the return of winter, are driven foutherly from thofe frigid climes, in fearch of food, which there the ice and fnow muft deprive them of. There are many others alfo, particularly of the duck or wading kind, that bre d and make their fummer abode in the defolate fenny parts of our ifland ; and when the feverity of our winters deprives them of their food, neceffity forces them to retire toward the fea in numerous flights; where they find water unfrozen, and where they remain till the return of fummer; but thefe can- not properly be called birds of pajj'age.

It feems pretty evident from the whole, that the fummer birds °f P a .S'"g e kave us only in fearch of a more warm climate, and a greater plenty of food ; both which advantages they procure to themfelves by their alternate change of climate ; but the migration of the winter birds of pajj'age is not fo eafily accounted for, fince there is no fuch apparent neceffity of their leaving us either on the fcore of food, or climate. The place of the fummer retirement of thefe birds is Sweden, and fome other countries in that latitude ; but as they would find thofe places too cold and deftitute of provifion, were they to haften immediately to them on their departure from us, they journey along gradually, and prolong tKeir paflage thru' the more moderate countries of Germany and Poland ; by which means they do not arrive at their northern habita- tions, where they arc to p Ss their fummer, and where they breed till the feverity of the cold is fo far abated as to render it pleafing to them, and there is proper food there for them : and when they revifit us the following winter, thier journey is performed in the fame leifurely manner. Sweden, and the other countries whence they come to us, feem the proper home of thefe birds ; fince there they were bred; and the journey they take to us being only for a war- mer climate, and a plenty of food, it is no wonder that when thefe benefits are to be expected again in their native place, they return to it.

The principal food of thefe birds, while with us, is the fruit of the white thorn, or haws ; which hang on our hedges, in winter, in prodigious plenty; but where they breed, and feem to live moft at eafe, as in Sweden, &c. there are no haws, nor indeed in many of the countries thro* which they journey in their way ; fo that it is evident they change their food in their paffage. And upon the whole it appears, that Providence has created birds, &c. with conftitutions and in- clinations adapted to their different degrees of heat and cold ; which, to them, are moft agreeable, and to which they will travel from places which to other animals might feem more agreeable: by this means no part of the globe is without its. inhabitants.

Befide the migratory birds, which live in different countries a whole winter, or a whole fummer, there are fome others which annually appear in particular places, at the time of the ripening of particular kinds of grain which their own coun- try is deftitute of; and thefe depart after a fhort flay, and are no more, feen till that time the following year. Of this kind are the rice-bird, and bluewing of Carolina. Birds like men, purfue their fearches after food, or whatever elfe is neceffary and agreeable, thro' diftant climes ; and when they difcover fome new grain, or pleafing food, they return and acquaint their community of the good fortune, and then joining in numerous flights, make annual excurfions "to folace themfelves on this exotic food.

Since the difcovery of America, there have been introduced from Europe feveral forts of grain which were before un- known there, and which, not before fome length of time, were found out, and coveted by birds of this migratory kind. Of this fort there is a very beautiful fpecies, which has very lately made its firft appearance in Virginia; thefe arrive an- nually at the time that the wheat is ripe, or nearly fo; and conftantly fince they found it out, have appeared in great droves every year, at the feafon of its ripening; the inhabi- tants call them, for this reafon, wheat- birdi. Phil. Tranf. N° 483-

Passage, in the manege. To pajfage a horfe upon his own length. See Length.

PASSAGIO, in the Italian mufic. See Passage, Cycl.

PASSAGO, in the glafs trade, the inftrument with which the workman makes the bowl of the drinking glaffes, or other die like veflels. AV/'s Art of Glafs, p. 247.

PASSARADO, in a {hip, is a rope whereby all the fheet-blocks of the main and fore fails are haled down ; the clew of the main fail to the cubbridge-head of the main maft, and the clew of the fore fail to the cat-head. This is to be done when the fhip goes large; and they are alfo kept firm down, and hindered from flying up, by this fajjln ado rope.

PASSEPJED, in the French mufic, an air in all refpects like a minuet, except that it is more brifk and lively. See the article Minuet.

PASSER, the _// -arrow, in zoology, the name of a large genus of birds, the difUnguifhing characters of which are thefe: they feed on corn and worms ; their beak is thick, fhort, and fomewhat bent ; their colour commonly a dufky brown.

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