€2 THE STORY OF BIRD-LIFE. 



flight. One quite peculiar type of soaring, if it 

 can really be accounted soaring, is that of the 

 skylark : and this is performed tu the accompani- 

 ment of the sweetest music that can be heard, 

 even in this world of songsters, as the bird 

 world is. AVho has not watched, with upturned 

 eyes, its spiral ascent till it becomes a mere 

 speck ; and often even this is lost, and the 

 songster vanishes, naught but those exquisite 

 notes sinking down f com heaven to earth serv- 

 ing to indicate its whereabouts. 



There yet remains one other form of flight 

 about which we must say a few words. This is 

 known as hovering. It is the very antithesis of 

 soaring, though sometimes it is performed at 

 great altitudes. 



In soaring the win<2s are held more or less 

 motionless, and the eff"ect is to carry tiie body 

 higher and yet higher. In hovering the wings 

 are driven at enormous speeil, yet the bird 

 remains poised over a given spot. The wings of 

 the humming-bird when feeding, suspended as it 

 were beneath the mouth of some honey-laden 

 flower-tube, dropping honey as the cloud's fat- 

 ness, move so rapidly that it is impossible for 

 the eye to follow each stroke, and a hazy circle 

 of indistinctness on each side of the bird is all 

 that is perceptible. 



In our common kestrel hawk again we liave 

 a superb exponent of this feat. So well known 

 is he on this account that he is popularly known 

 as the "wind-hover." 



Hovering however differs from soaring in this 

 — it is always done in order to find food ; soar- 



