MOVEMENT IN BIRDS 



CHAPTER IV 



How Birds Fly and Walk. Movemekts Peculiar to 

 Pairing Season. Evolution of Movement. Movements 

 OF Birds ltnder Water. Sub- Aquatic Movements of 

 Dipper. Birds as Hunters. Starlings as Fly-catchers. 

 Birds as Anglers. Different Methods. Gannets, Auks, 

 Skuas, Herons, Kingfishers. Gulls Dropping Mussels 

 from a Height. 



No form of life can compare with birds in 

 the matter of variety of movement. It is hardly 

 too much to say that every species, certainly 

 every genus, has a manner peculiar to itself. 

 Gilbert White has the following observations here- 

 upon : — 



" Kites and buzzards sail round in circles with 

 wings expanded and motionless. Kestrels have a 

 mode of hanging in the air in one place. Hen 

 harriers fly low over heaths and fields of corn, and 

 beat the ground regularly like a pointer or setter. 

 Owls move in a buoyant manner, as if lighter than 

 air ; they seem to lack ballast. Ravens strike and 

 cuff each other on the wing, and frequently when 

 flying turn on their backs, and appear to be falling 

 to the ground. Rooks often dive and tiunble 

 in a frolicsome manner. Woodpeckers fly opening 

 and closing the wings at every stroke, and so are 

 always rising and falling in curves. All the Gallinae 



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