that any accident occurs. They travel with such speed and perseverance, that it is not uncommon for a pair of rein-deer, with the sledge and Laplander, to perform a journey of 300 miles in twenty-four hours. Their usual trot, however, is at the rate of ten miles an hour; and they will draw from 200 to 300 pounds weight each, while going at that degree of speed. After the deer have been well broken in and trained to the sledge, the art of driving is merely holding the rein. In long journeys, and when parties are travelling together, it is not unusual to lash the deer to the sledge before; so that one follows the other in the same track and at the same pace. At starting, and when the snow is good, the deer set off at a gallop, relaxing, at length, into a long and steady trot. Each deer follows the foremost sledge so closely, that the head of the deer is generally in contact with the shoulders of the driver before. And should the leader of the whole train make a bend in his course, each deer, in succession, follows close in the track, instead of attempting to save ground, by cutting off the angle made by the first sledge. No power can remove the deer from the track its predecessors have taken; and it is this remarkable instinct that, no doubt, greatly contributes to the preservation of life; for, should any of the company, by accidental circumstances, be detached from the rest, the keen scent of the deer enables it to pursue the track, and eventually to overtake the train of carriages that have passed on before.-Tiler's Natural History.

SWALLOWS.

It is worth remarking, that these birds are seen first about lakes and mill-ponds; and it is also very particular, that, if these early visitors happen to find frost and snow, as was the case in the two dreadful springs of 1770 and 1771, they immediately withdraw for a time; a circumstance this, much more in favour of hiding than migration; since it is much more probable that a bird should retire to its winter quarters at hand, than return for a week or two only to warmer latitudes.

The swallow, though called the chimney-swallow, by no means builds altogether in chimneys, but often within

barns and out-houses, against the rafters; and so she did in Virgil's time,

Ante

Garrula quam tignis nidos suspendat hirundo.

In Sweden, she builds in barns, and is called ladu swala (the barn-swallow). Besides, in the warmer parts of Europe, there are no chimneys to houses, except they are English built; in these countries, she constructs her nest in porches, and gateways, and galleries, and open halls.

Here and there a bird may affect some odd, peculiar place; as we have known a swallow build down the shaft of an old well, through which chalk had been formerly drawn up, for the purpose of manure; but in general, with us this hirundo breeds in chimneys, and loves to haunt those stacks where there is a constant fire-no doubt for the sake of 'warmth. Not that it can subsist in the immediate shaft where there is a fire; but prefers one adjoining to that of the kitchen, and disregards the perpetual smoke of that funnel, as I have often observed with some degree of wonder.

Five or six, or more feet down the chimney,' does this little bird begin to form her nest, about the middle of May, which consists, like that of the house-marten, of a crust, or shell, composed of dirt, or mud, mixed with short pieces of straw, to render it tough and permanent; with this difference, that whereas the shell of the marten is nearly hemispheric, that of the swallow is open at the top, and like half a deep dish: this nest is lined with fine grasses, and feathers, which are often collected as they float in the air.

Wonderful is the address which this adroit bird shows all day long, in ascending and descending with security through so narrow a pass. When hovering over the mouth of the funnel, the vibrations of her wings, acting on the confined air, occasion a rumbling like thunder. It is not improbable that the dam submits to this inconvenient situation so low in the shaft, in order to secure her broods from rapacious birds, and particularly from owls, which frequently fall down chimneys, perhaps in attempting to get at these nestlings.

The swallow lays from four to six white eggs, dotted with red specks; and brings out her first brood about the

last week in June, or the first week in July. The progressive method by which the young are introduced into life is very amusing: first they merge from the shaft with difficulty enough, and often fall down into the rooms below; for a day or so, they are fed on the chimney top, and then are conducted to the dead leafless bough of some tree, where, sitting in a row, they are attended with great assiduity, and may then be called perchers. In a day or two more, they become fliers, but are still unable to take their own food; therefore, they play about near the place where the dams are hawking for flies; and when a mouthful is collected, at a certain signal given, the dam and the nestling advance, rising towards each other, and meeting at an angle; the young one all the while uttering such a little quick note of gratitude and complacency, that a person must have paid very little regard to the wonders of Nature, that has not often remarked this feat.

The dam betakes herself immediately to the business of a second brood, as soon as she is disengaged from her first; which at once associates with the first broods of house-martens, and with them congregates, clustering on sunny roofs, towers, and trees. This hirundo brings out her second brood towards the middle and end of August.

All the summer long is the swallow a most instructive pattern of unwearied industry and affection; for, from morning to night, while there is a family to be supported, she spends the whole day in skimming close to the ground, and exerting the most sudden turns and quick evolutions. Avenues, and long walks, under hedges, and pasture fields, and mown meadows where cattle graze, are her delight, especially if there are trees interspersed; because in such spots insects most abound. When a fly is taken, a smart snap from her bill is heard, resembling the noise at the shutting of a watch case; but the motion of the mandibles is too quick for the eye.

The swallow, probably the male bird, is the excubitor to house-martens, and other little birds, announcing the approach of birds of prey. For as soon as a hawk appears, with a shrill alarming note, he calls all the swallows and martens about him, who pursue in a body, and buffet and strike their enemy, till they have driven him

H

from the village, darting down from above on his back, and rising in a perpendicular line in perfect security. This bird also will sound the alarm, and strike at cats when they climb on the roofs of houses, or otherwise approach the nests. Each species of hirundo drinks as it flies along, sipping the surface of the water; but the swallow alone, in general, washes on the wing, by dropping into a pool for many times together: in very hot weather, house-martens and bank-martens dip and wash a little.

The swallow is a delicate songster, and in soft, sunny weather, sings both perching and flying; on trees in a kind of concert, and on chimney-tops; is also a bold flier, ranging to distant downs and commons, even in windy weather, which the other species seem much to dislike; nay, even frequenting exposed seaport towns, and making little excursions over the salt water. Horsemen on wide downs are often closely attended by a little party of swallows for miles together, which plays before and behind them, sweeping around, and collecting all the skulking insects that are roused by the trampling of the horses' feet. When the wind blows hard, without this expedient, they are often forced to settle to pick up their lurking prey.-White's Natural History of Selborne.

147

BIOGRAPHY.

66

ST. IGNATIUS.

He was a good man, one in whose breast the true spirit of religion did eminently dwell; a man of very moderate and mortified affections, in which sense he doubtless intended that famous saying, so much celebrated by the ancients, "My love is crucified;" that is (for to that purpose he explains it in the very words that follow), his appetites and desires were crucified to the world, and all the lusts and pleasures of it. We may, with St. Chrysostom, consider him in a threefold capacity, as an Apostle, a Bishop, and a Martyr. As an Apostle (in the larger acceptation of the word, he being, as the Greek offices style him," the immediate successor of the Apostles,") he was careful to diffuse and propagate the genuine doctrine which he had received of the Apostles, and took a kind of general care of all Churches. Even in his passage to Rome he surveyed (as Eusebius tells us) the Dioceses, or Churches, that belonged to all the cities whither he came; confirming them by his sermons and exhortations, and directing epistles to several of the principals for their further order and establishment in the faith. As a Bishop, he was a diligent, faithful, and industrious pastor, infinitely careful of his charge; which, though so exceedingly vast and numerous, he prudently instructed, governed, and superintended, and that in the midst of dangerous and troublesome times, above forty years together. He had a true and unchangeable love for his people; and when ravished from them in order to his martyrdom, there was not any Church to whom he wrote, but he particularly begged their prayers to God for his Church at Antioch; and of some of them desired that they would send a divine ambassador thither, on purpose to comfort them, and to congratulate their happy deliverance from the persecution. because he knew that the prosperity of the Church and the good of souls were no less undermined by heresy from within, than assaulted by violence and persecution from

And