96 THE FLIGHT OF BIRDS 



that we find the breadth of the wing much reduced ; 

 they taper towards the extremity where the rapidity 

 reaches its maximum and the forward movement is 

 greatest. 



Styles of Flight. 

 There are two contrasted styles of flight that even 

 the casual observer easily distinguishes. There is 

 that of the small bird that lifts himself with two or 

 three rapid strokes, then takes a rest and glides 

 onwards, his wings as a rule not quite at their 

 full span — glides so far that though his pace is con- 

 siderable he loses not a little altitude. But a few 

 strong strokes soon make this good, and he enjoys 

 another slightly -downward glide. The Swift and 

 the Swallow are first-rate exponents of this style, 

 but it is common to most small birds. The Water- 

 Ouzel is a striking exception ; his wings move so 

 fast that you see only a blur, and he allows himself 

 no easy intervals of gliding. Probably this is 

 because, for his size and weight, his wings are 

 decidedly small, so that he has to ply them unceas- 

 ingly. When a larger bird flies in the dipping style 

 — a few strokes and a glide, a few strokes and another 

 glide — it is particularly striking. Everyone knows 

 the dipping flight of the Woodpecker. When he 

 glides, he flexes his wings more than most of the 

 birds that intersperse little glides amid their flight, 

 and so he dips more than others. Sometimes a bird 

 whose wings are large for his size and who gains 

 much altitude with a stroke or two, then half folds 

 his wings, has a very butterfly -like appearance. The 

 Wallcreeper, when he plays about a vertical face of 

 rock in the Alps, spreading and then half flexing his 



