MOVEMENT IN BIRDS 



The ascent of the meadow-pipit is a somewhat 

 sorry exhibition of soaring by comparison. It 

 rises in hesitating fashion, uttering its twittering 

 notes the while, and soon faUs back to rock or 

 herbage as though surprised at its own audacity. 

 The tree-pipit makes a bolder and more sustained 

 effort, but both smk into insignificance before the 

 true slcy-bird, which boldly cuts itself adrift from 

 a material world and abandons itself altogether to 

 a higher environment. 



Many birds, again, have movements peculiar 

 to the pairing season, which are seen at no 

 other time. Ringdoves hang on the wing in a 

 toying and playful fashion ; the snipe fans the aii 

 like a windhover, and it is usually during the time 

 of incubation that it drops abruptly through the 

 air on oblique wing, bringing about the curious 

 sound known as bleating ; the greenfinch exhibits 

 languishing and faltering gestures as to appear like 

 a wounded or dying bird. Pigeons inflate their 

 crops and walk in circles, a manner of wooing which 

 is followed in some degree by the long-eared owls. 

 Blackcock perform extraordinary antics, and even 

 the stolid rook indulges in grotesque nods, bows, 

 and caws, jerking its tail feathers apart with a 

 ratthng soimd. 



In their movements on foot birds show marked 

 peculiarities. All the Gallinse parade and walk 

 gracefully, and run nimbly. Parrots, crossbills 

 and the like walk awkwardly, and make use of the 

 bill as a third foot. Most of the smaller birds hop, 

 the wagtails and pipits bemg the least of the 

 feathered race that adopt the expedient of putting 

 one foot before the other. All the duck tribe 

 waddle ; divers and auks stand nearly erect, and 

 move as if fettered by hobble skirts. Guillemots 

 and puffins literally fly under water ; cormorants 



45 



