Feathers and Flight. 155 



of flio-ht. A Pio-eon can be easily identitied 

 from a Rook when a long way off by its much 

 more rapid wing flaps, and a Wagtail from a 

 Swallow by the fact that the former flies in waves, 

 beating its Avings rapidly until it has risen to the 

 top of one imaginary Avave in the aii', Avhen^ 

 partly closing them, it glides down to the bottom 

 of the hollow between the Avave it has just sur- 

 mounted and the next, then rising quickly again. The 

 latter bird, on the other hand, dashes away in long 

 sweeps and graceful curves. Seagulls are very 

 clever at soaring in a breeze, and can folloAv a 

 steamer travelling at the rate of tAA'enty miles an 

 hour Avithoiit ever appearing to flap their Avings ; 

 but they have to yield the palm to the Fulmar 

 Petrel, Avhich is so Avonderfully adroit that it can 

 o-lide in and out amon^^st great, angry ocean AA'aves 

 in a Avay that Avould make any boy or girl quake 

 lor its safety, and yet never stir a feather. A 

 strange thing about this species is that it never 

 appears to fly over land. I have sat for hours 

 together on the top of a cliff in the face of Avhich 

 thousands upon thousands Avere breeding, and 

 although great numbers of them Avere constantly 

 glidhig to and fro over the sea in front, not one 

 passed over any part of the land behind me. 



A breeze of some sort is necessary for soaring 

 birds, and it is marA^ellous hoAV they can make use 

 of its varying forces. I have been on a sea-rock 

 some three or lour hundred feet high on a Avindy 



