304 CIRCUS CYANEUS. 



lies forth to seize a heedless fly whizzing joyously along* 

 in the bright sunshine. As we cross the sedgy bog, 

 the snipe starts with loud scream from among our feet, 

 while on the opposite bank the gbr cock raises his scar- 

 let-fringed head above the heath, and cackles his loud 

 notes of anger or alarm, as his mate crouches amid the 

 brown herbage. 



But see, a pair of searchers not less observant than 

 ourselves have appeared over the slope of the bare hill. 

 They wheel in narrow curves at the height of a few 

 yards ; round and round they fly, their eyes no doubt 

 keenly bent on the ground beneath. One of them, the 

 pale blue bird, is now stationary, hovering on almost 

 motionless wing ; down he shoots like a stone ; he has 

 clutched his prey, a young lapwing perhaps, and off^ he 

 flies with it to a bit of smooth ground, where he will 

 devour it in haste. Meanwhile his companion, who is 

 larger, and of a brown colour, continues her search ; 

 she moves along with gentle flappings, sails for a short 

 space, and judging the place over which she has ar- 

 rived not unlikely to yield something that may satisfy 

 her craving appetite, she flies slowly over it, now con- 

 tracting her circles, now extending them, and now for 

 a few moments hovering as if fixed in the air. At 

 length, finding nothing, she shoots away, and hies to 

 another field ; but she has not proceeded far when she 

 spies a frog by the edge of a small pool, and, instantly 

 descending, thrusts her sharp talons through its sides. 

 It is soon devoured, and in the mean time the male 

 comes up. Again they fly off together ; and were you 

 to watch their progress, you would see them traverse 

 a large space of ground, wheeling, gliding, and flapping, 



