WIND AND FLIGHT Ley 
attributed to unwillingness on the part of small 
shorebirds, Ringed Plovers and Dunlins, to fly with 
agale behind them. It was a real gale. I could with 
difficulty make any headway when I faced it and 
tried to walk. The small birds kept flying from one 
patch of sand to another (the patches were scattered 
among the rocks). They never headed towards what 
seemed to be their objective, if, in order to reach it, 
they would have had to fly with the wind behind 
them. They would first face the wind and gain some 
little altitude, and then turning, so that they faced 
at about a right angle to it, let themselves be swept 
to the patch to which, apparently, they wished to 
go. Of this I saw a good many instances. But we 
cannot build much on such observations, and having 
since that time had occasional chances of watching 
similar manoeuvres in rather less violent, but still 
very strong winds, I am unable to draw the conclu- 
sion that I then did. 
Birds are very fond of playing when upon the 
wing, and a good stiff breeze or a gale gives them 
fine opportunities. When nestlings they have very 
little chance of playing; they are too crowded in 
the nest, and in the case of many species restlessness 
would end in a fatal fall. But as soon as they have 
the use of their wings, the representatives of many 
Species are never tired of aerial sport. No doubt 
this in a sense is practice. The Swallow improves 
in agility, and so is better able to catch gnats when 
he wishes to catch them. For the time he is not 
definitely on the hunt, but is simply enjoying the 
evolutions that the wind makes possible. If any 
one doubts this, let him watch Gulls circling by the 
