198 MIGRATIONS. 



The swallow, caught in the morning, and closely examined, is 

 seen to be a strange and ugly bird, we confess ; but this fact per- 

 fectly well agrees with what is, par excellence, the hird — the being 

 among all beings born for flight. To this object Nature has sacrificed 

 everything ; she has laughed at form, thinking only of movement ; 

 and has succeeded so well that this bird, ugly in repose, is, when 

 flying, the most beautiful of all. 



Scythe-like wings ; projecting eyes ; no neck (in order to treble 

 her strength) ; feet, scarcely any, or none : all is wing. These are her 

 gi'eat general features. Add a very large beak, always open, which, 

 in flight, snaps at its prey without stopping, closes, and again re-opens, 

 Thus she feeds while flying ; she drinks, she bathes while flying ; 

 while flying, she feeds her young. 



If she does not equal in accuracy of line the thunderous swoop of 

 the falcon, by way of compensation she is freer ; she wheels, makes 

 a hundred circles, a labyrinth of undefined figures, a maze of varied 

 curves, which she crosses and re-crosses, ad infinitum. Her enemy 

 is dazzled, lost, confused, and knows not what to do. She wearies 

 and exhausts him ; he gives up the chase, but leaves her unfatigued. 

 She is the true queen of the air ; the incomparable agility of her 

 motions makes all space her own. Who, like her, can change in the 

 very moment of springing, and turn abruptly ? No one. The infinitely 

 varied and capricious pursuit of a prey which is ever fluttering — of the 

 gnat, the fly, the beetle, the thousand insects that waver to and fro and 

 never keep in the same direction — is, undoubtedly, the best training- 

 school for flight, and renders the swallow superior to all other birds. 



Nature, to attain this end, to achieve this unique wing, has 

 adopted an extreme resolution, that of suppressing the foot. In the 

 large church-haunting swallow, which we call the martin, the foot is 

 reduced to a mere nothing. The wing gains in proportion ; the 

 martin, it is said, accomplishes eighty leagues in an hour. This 

 astounding swiftness equals even that of the frigate-bird. The foot, 

 remarkably short in the latter, is but a stumjj in the martin ; if he 

 rests, it is on his belly ; so that he never perches. With him it is 



