MOVEMENT IN BIRDS 



to the side of the river, and, under the shadow 

 of the trees, remained quite motionless for fully 

 ten mmutes, a very different figure from the 

 merry little water-sprite which had just been 

 flitting and frisking in the waters beneath the 

 bridge. 



In deeper water the dipper unquestionably 

 uses its wings to keep itself down, and even the 

 young may be seen fl3dng beneath the surface. 



Birds as Hunters. 



With all animals as with man the predominant 

 question is how to get a living. Nature appears 

 to have made matter easy for the vegetarians : 

 their life-problem arises only when it comes to 

 getting out of the way of their less fortimately 

 placed neighbours for whom the fruits of the 

 earth are insufficient. 



For the strictly carnivorous birds the most 

 constant activity and resource are demanded if 

 they are to keep body and soul together. By 

 the nature of the case they can take little or no 

 thought for to-morrow. They must kill or die. 



Hunting is the most primitive form of food- 

 getting, the straight running down of the quarry 

 as seen in the greyhound — on earth and under 

 the earth, in air, river and sea the hunters are 

 always at work. Just as the hound overtakes 

 the hare, the swallow runs down the fly, the hawk 

 the sparrow, the otter the trout, the guillemot 

 the young herring. 



Diurnal birds-of-prey, unlike many carnivorous 

 mammals, have little use for strategy ; they rely 

 on speed. The golden eagle and the peregrine 

 falcon strike their quarry in the air after a straight 

 run, the sparrow-hawk may grip a finch from a 

 bough or even from the ground, but he too, 



53 



