WIND AND FLIGHT 127 



attributed to unwillingness on the part of small 

 shorebirds, Ringed Plovers and Dunlins, to fly with 

 a gale behind them. It was a real gale. I could with 

 difficulty make any headway when I faced it and 

 tried to walk. The small birds kept flying from one 

 patch of sand to another (the patches were scattered 

 among the rocks). They never headed towards what 

 seemed to be their objective, if, in order to reach it, 

 they would have had to fly with the wind behind 

 them. They would first face the wind and gain some 

 little altitude, and then turning, so that they faced 

 at about a right angle to it, let themselves be swept 

 to the patch to which, apparently, they wished to 

 go. Of this I saw a good many instances. But we 

 cannot build much on such observations, and having 

 since that time had occasional chances of watching 

 similar manoeuvres in rather less violent, but still 

 very strong winds, I am unable to draw the conclu- 

 sion that I then did. 



Birds are very fond of playing when upon the 

 wing, and a good stiff breeze or a gale gives them 

 fine opportunities. When nestlings they have very 

 little chance of playing ; they are too crowded in 

 the nest, and in the case of many species restlessness 

 would end in a fatal fall. But as soon as they have 

 the use of their wings, the representatives of many 

 species are never tired of aerial sport. No doubt 

 this in a sense is practice. The Swallow improves 

 in agility, and so is better able to catch gnats when 

 he wishes to catch them. For the time he is not 

 definitely on the hunt, but is simply enjoying the 

 evolutions that the wind makes possible. If any 

 one doubts this, let him watch Gulls circling by the 



