FLIGHT. 



Its usual flight is undulating, so characteristic of the 

 Woodpecker family as well as the Crossbills, many of our 

 Finches and some other species. While gaining headway its 

 wings beat the air rapidly, producing a whi.stling sound which, 

 upon gaining sufficient altitude and velocity, apparentl}' ceases 

 altogether, recurring only when about to alight. Perhaps 

 this noise is onl}' an audible manifestation of its almost per- 

 petual bustle and restlessness, as I have known it upon rare 

 occasions to take flight or alight within a few feet of me with 

 the stealth and noiselessness of an Owl. When flying in flocks, 

 which by the way are never compact, it does not act with the 

 unity of action of the majority of our birds ; still there is 

 considerable regularity of length and inflection of the waves 

 produced by the alternate opening and closing of the wings. 

 During 'V)() I took the following notes : June "i"), one flushed 

 at road-side, rose twenty feet at a distance of seventy-five feet 

 — -just clearing the comb of a small barn — making five dips of 

 a])Out three feet or one dip ever}- fifteen feet on an average. 

 One flu.shed from creek bank and flew- to ground again. Ten 

 feet rise in forty feet, making two dips of less than one-half 

 foot. August 1 , several flushed from ground. Ten feet rise 

 in forty feet, t\vo dips of about three feet or one dip ever}- 

 twenty feet. It is capable of greatly increasing its usual speed 

 and sustaining itself with little or no undulation but seldom 

 ri.sing to any great height above the tree tops except when 

 migrating. Alighting is best accomplished by a .slightly up- 

 ward movement, and when at right angles to its perch the 

 tail plays an important part in the rather awkward feat of 

 balancing, suggesting a comparatively recent aquirenient and 

 one not attained by the true Woodpeckers. 



