STOPPING AND ALIGHTING 65 



As birds are so careful in alighting to avoid all jar, 

 it is remarkable that some species have habits which 

 would seem likely to cause concussion of the brain. 

 It is astonishing that the Nuthatch, for example, 

 when he has been half the day hammering at nuts 

 with tremendous vigour, yet suffers no bad conse- 

 quences. But we must bear in mind that the bird's 

 neck, with its peculiar saddle-and-rider vertebrae, 

 is more supple than a snake, whereas the backbone, 

 except just at the waist, is remarkable for its rigidity. 

 Hence, probably, the care and dexterity in alighting 

 that contrast so strikingly with the reckless use of 

 the beak and head as a hammer by the Nuthatch, 

 the Woodpecker, and other birds. It must be owned 

 that there are some birds which, when they are 

 alighting, are very unlike the "Herald Mercury." 

 Among these we must count the Gannet. When he 

 gets near his nest upon some cliff, he paddles hard 

 with his legs, and at last settles clumsily down. Mr. 

 Bentley Beetham (British Birds, May, 1911) has 

 some very good illustrations of the Gannet 's style 

 of alighting. One of them shows a bird that has so 

 lost command of his movements, that he is flopping 

 most ungracefully onto his nest. His breast is 

 resting on the pile of dry seaweed, his outspread 

 wings on the rock at either side. It is an astonishing 

 attitude, but it must be borne in mind that the 

 Gannet is in the habit of taking headers from a great 

 height, and that his breast is shielded by air cavities 

 beneath the skin, first-rate air-cushions that greatly 

 reduce the shock when he dashes into the water. 

 This may account for his descending breast foremost 

 onto his nest. But the Cormorant, who has no 



