242 PRACTICAL ORNITHOLOGY. 



in Britain and other temperate countries, arriving in autumn, 

 and leaving us in spring for the northern regions, in which they 

 rear their young. The Woodcock, the Fieldfare, the Red- 

 wing, and the Snow Bunting, are of this latter kind. Again, 

 there are birds that make their appearance in flocks, or soli- 

 tarily, at uncertain periods, or once in many years, and these 

 are called stragglers, or rare visitants. Those birds, on the 

 other hand, such as the Rook, the Sparrow, and the Partridge, 

 that remain with us all the year round, are said to be perma- 

 nent residents. The birds of all kinds that occur in Britain 

 in a wild state amount to nearly three hundred species. 



Hark ! what a singular cry that stout little bird on the top- 

 twig utters. 



Yes, an Orcadian naturalist called it a skirls some one else a 

 reessle. It is the Corn Bunting. You perceive that its legs 

 dangle, or rather hang, for some time, as it flies off", at first 

 with a straight whirring flight ; but now^ it speeds away, rising 

 and falling. The best sample of an undulating flight, however, 

 3^ou have in that Wagtail, high over head, that shoots past like 

 an arrow, ascends with a rapid motion of its wrings, closes them, 

 and darts along, then descends, and mounts again, describing 

 Hogarth's line of grace, or the curve of gently-heaving billows. 

 These Partridges fly in quite a diiferent style : — whirr, up, 

 away, right forward, their short concave wings flapping smartly; 

 then a short sail, with stift- stretched pinions, — and again whirr. 

 ISIost of the Gallinaceous birds fly in the same manner. The 

 sportsman coming up behind the fence will have a shot presently. 



Is it not cruel after all to shoot birds, especially for mere 

 sport ? 



Perhaps it is. Some kill birds for food; and I suppose 

 they do right. Others slaughter them to make money ; and 

 possibly they too are blameless. Some shoot for study, and 

 some to supply the naturalists and the museums with speci- 

 mens. Consider what would become of us if we had no skins. 

 All the binary, ternary, and quinary arrangements; the rank and 

 file extensions ; the circular, inosculant, anastomosing, normal, 

 and aberrant delineations would never have existed had there 

 been no skins to arrange on the carpet. W^ithout skins for 



