ii8 BIRD LIFE GLIMPSES 



time. Having tubbed in this clean, precise, military 

 fashion, he steps an inch or so to one side, and then 

 jumps into the air, giving his wings, as he goes up, 

 a vigorous flapping, or waving rather, for they move 

 like two broad banners. He descends — the motion 

 of the wings having hardly carried him beyond the 

 original impulse of the spring — jumps up in the 

 same way, again, and does this some three or four 

 times, after which he moves a little farther off, and 

 preens himself with great satisfaction. Either this 

 is a very original method of washing, on the part of 

 peewits in general, or this particular peewit is a very 

 original bird. Apparently the latter is the explana- 

 tion, for now two other ones bathe, couched on their 

 breasts in the ordinary manner. Still the wings are 

 not extended to any great degree, and play a less 

 part in the washing process than is usual. Both 

 these birds, too, having washed, which takes a very 

 little while, make the little spring into the air, 

 whilst, at the same time, shaking or waving their 

 wings above their backs, in the way that the other 

 did, though not quite so briskly, so that it has a 

 still more graceful appearance. It is common for 

 birds to give their wings a good shake after a bathe, 

 but, as a rule, they stand firm on the ground, and 

 this pretty aerial way of doing things is something of 

 a novelty, and most pleasing. It is like the graceful 

 waving of the hands in the air, by which the 

 Normans — as Scott tells us — having had recourse 

 to the finger-bowl, at table, suffered the moisture to 

 exhale, instead of drying them, clumsily, on a towel, 

 as did the inelegant Saxons. The peewit, it is easy 

 to see, is of gentle Norman blood. 



