A Bird’s-Eye View 
after the same nature are the hawks, the largest 
of which hardly stand second to the eagle, but 
whose essentially injurious nature (as it is mis- 
takenly judged) has made mankind almost 
oblivious of their finer and grander aspect. 
Diverse in many ways from the foregoing, and 
yet closely allied in aérial temperament, are the 
familiar swifts and swallows, sportively expend- 
ing on the wing their exhaustless stock of en- 
ergy, a constant symbol in the sky of joy and 
silent laughter. In all the animal kingdom I 
know of nothing that portrays a wilder rapture 
—not even excepting the heartiest outpour of a 
jubilant songster—than the voiceless transport 
of a large flock of swallows in the autumn, as 
they mingle, young and old, preparatory to 
their departure for the South—the former in 
the freshness of their new and untried life, the 
latter, as if celebrating their release from the 
cares of summer—in the eager, perplexing 
mazes of exuberant flight ; a prolonged exhil- 
aration, a feathered rhapsody ; which, while it 
wearies them not, leaves the beholder almost 
breathless. Such a scene, common though it 
be, is in the highest degree inspiriting ; and 
the contemplation of the collective species of 
this group is intimately associated with some of 
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