68 J. E. HARTIXG — STUDY OF N^ATtTEAX HISTOET 



spend all their leisure time in striking and cuffing each other on the 

 wing in a kind of playful skii'mish ; and when they move from one 

 place to anotlicr, frocjuently turn on their- backs -with a loud croak, 

 and seem to be falling to the ground. AVhcn this odd gesture 

 betides them, they are scratching themselves with one foot, and 

 thus lose the centre of gravity. Eooks sometimes dive and tumble 

 in a frolicsome manner ; crows and daws swagger in their walk ; 

 woodpeckers fly volatii undoso, opening and closing their wings at 

 every stroke, and so are always rising or falling in curves. All of 

 this genus use their tails, which incline downward, as a support 

 while they run up trees. Parrots, like all other hooked-clawed 

 birds, walk awkwardly, and make use of their bills as a third foot, 

 climbing and descending with ridiculous caution. 



" All the Gallince parade and walk gracefully, and run nimbly, but 

 fly with difficulty, with an impetuous whirring, and in a straight 

 line. Magpies and jays flutter with powerless wings, and make no 

 dispatch ; herons seem encumbered with too much sail for their 

 light bodies ; but these vast hollow wings are necessaiy in carrying 

 burdens, such as large fishes and the like ; pigeons, and particularly 

 the sort called smiters, have a way of clashing their wings the one 

 against the other over their backs with a loud snap ; another 

 variety, called tumblers, turn themselves over in the air. Some 

 birds have movements peculiar to the seasons : thus ring-doves, 

 though strong and rapid at other times, yet in the spring hang 

 about on the wing in a playful manner; thus the cock snipe, 

 forgetting his former flight, fans the air like the wind-hover ; and 

 the greenfinch, in particular, exhibits such languishing and faltering 

 gestures, as to appear like a wounded and dying bii'd ; the king- 

 fisher darts along like an arrow ; fern-owls, or goat-suckers, glance 

 in the dusk over the tops of trees like a meteor ; starlings, as it 

 were, swim along ; while missel-thrushes use a wild and desultory 

 flight ; swallows sweep over the surface of the ground and water, 

 and distinguish themselves by rapid turns and quick evolutions ; 

 swifts dash round in circles ; and the bank-martin moves with 

 frequent vacillations like a butterfly. Most of the small birds fly 

 by jerks, rising and falling as they advance. Most small birds 

 hop ; but wagtails and larks walk, moving their legs alternately. 

 Skylarks rise and fall perpendicularly as they sing ; woodlarks 

 hang poised in the air ; and titlarks rise and fall in large curves, 

 singing in their descent. The whitethroat uses odd jerks and ges- 

 ticulations over the tops of liedges and bushes. All the duck kind 

 waddle ; divers and auks walk as if fettered, and stand erect on 

 their tails ; these are the compedes of Linnaeus. Geese and cranes, 

 and most wild fowls, move in figured flights, often changing their 

 position. Dab-chicks, moorhens, and coots fly erect, witli their legs 

 hanging down, and hardly make any dispatch ; the reason is plain, 

 their wings are placed too forward out of the true centre of gravity, 

 as the legs of auks and divers are situated too backward. 



"From i\\c motion of birds, the transition is natural enough to 

 their notes and lanc;ua";e The notes of the eagle kind are 



