RAVENS IN SOMERSET 163 



in some cases they are carried as when folded, but 

 are sHghtly raised from the body ; in other cases the 

 wing is tightly pressed against the side, but the 

 primaries stand out obliquely, giving the descending 

 bird the figure of a barbed arrow-head. This may be 

 seen in daws, choughs, pipits, and many other species. 

 The raven suddenly closes his outspread wings, just 

 as a man might drop his arms to his sides, and falls 

 head downwards through the air like a stone bird 

 cast down from its pedestal ; but he falls obliquely, 

 and, after falling for a space of twenty or thirty or 

 more feet, he throws out his wings and floats for a 

 few seconds on the air, then falls again, and then 

 again, until the earth is reached. 



Let the reader imagine a series of invisible wires 

 stretched, wire above wire, at a distance of thirty or 

 forty yards apart, to a height of six or seven hundred 

 yards from the earth. Let him next imagine an 

 acrobat, infinitely more daring, more agile, and 

 graceful in action than any performer he has ever 

 seen, standing on the highest wire of all, in his black 

 silk tights, against the blue sky, his arms outstretched ; 

 then dropping his arms to his sides and diving through 

 the air to the next wire, then to the next, and so on 

 successively until he comes to the earth. The feat 

 would be similar, only on a larger scale and less 



