60 THE STORY OF BIRD-LIFE. 



the wings with great velocity and power; and 

 do not fiy far. 



Those who know the partridge should know 

 also the lapwing and the owl, the heron and the 

 gall. These are all birds having a relatively 

 small light body and large wings. They will be 

 able to picture the slow majestic long-sustained 

 flight of the heron, or the fairy-like movements 

 of gull or tern now skimming over the shiny 

 waters of the sea or lake, and now mounted high 

 in air and wheeling round and round, as if for 

 the mere delight of moving. We find in these 

 an object lesson in the second form of flight. 



To see the third form we shall have to move 

 further afield than our own shores. We must 

 seek out the albatross and the pelican, birds 

 whose bodies are heavy and whose wings are 

 long — in the case of the albatross, ribbon-like — 

 and moved with a decidedly slow and rhythmical 

 beat. Concerning the prowess of these on the 

 wing we shall have something to say presently. 



This classification by no means covers all the 

 varied forms of flight. It is rather meant to be 

 an indication of the fact that the nature of flight 

 varies much in different groups of birds. 



So far, that of which we have spoken has had 

 reference to direct movement with a purpose, so 

 to speak, to a deliberate passage from one point 

 to another. But there is yet another form of 

 flight quite difi*erent, and this is known as 

 "soaring." 



The masters of this art are, by common consent, 

 the vultures, ])elicans, and the storks ; the ranks 

 of the last claiming the finest performer of them 



