Song Birds and Water Fowl 
are a few species of land birds that find flight 
an end in itself; that pre-eminently live upon 
the wing; that sail, and circle, or indulge in 
the most dashing circumvolutions, hour after 
hour, without alighting, and evidently prompt- 
ed by no impulse except the thrill of altitude, 
and the ecstasy of motion. Such birds may 
nest, and at times perch, in trees ; they may 
even be found occasionally on the ground; but 
this is for some needful, special purpose ; their 
wings are the truest symbol of their nature, and 
their home, the broad and unobstructed sky. 
The few species in this group are not the most 
familiar nor the most welcome of their kind ; 
but, in this lofty sense of wild abandonment 
and super-earthliness, they are the most exalted 
of all birds, showing an intensity of tempera- 
ment unequalled, in its way, by any other 
creature. These constitute what is most 
essentially an aéria/ group, comprising the 
grandest and most fugacious of terrestrial fowl, 
of which the most glorious is the eagle—that 
‘*—-wingéd and cloud-cleaving minister, 
Whose happy flight is highest into heaven,” 
and whose crowning altitude is his best claim 
to being called the king of birds. Modelled 
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