264 FLIGHT OF BIRDS. 



wing in a toying and playful manner ; thus the cock 

 snipe, while breeding, forgetting his former flight, 

 fans the air like the windhover ; and the greenfinch, 

 in particular, exhibits such languishing and faltering 

 gestures as to appear like a wounded and dying bird ; 

 the king-fisher darts along like an arrow ; fern-owls, 

 or goat-suckers, glance in the dusk over the tops of 

 trees like a meteor ; starlings, as it were, swim along, 

 while missel-thrushes use a wild and desultory flight ; 

 swallows sweep over the surface of the ground and 

 water, and distinguish themselves by rapid turns and 

 quick evolutions ; swifts dash round in circles ; and 

 the bank- martin moves with frequent vacillations like 

 a butterfly. Most of the small birds fly by jerks, 

 rising and falling as they advance. Most small birds 

 hop ; but wagtails and larks walk, moving their legs 

 alternately. Sky-larks rise and fall perpendicularly 

 as they sing ; woodlarks hang poised in the air ; and 

 titlarks rise and fall in large curves, singing in their 

 descent. The white-throat uses odd jerks and ges- 

 ticulations over the tops of hedges and bushes. All 

 the duck kind waddle ; divers and auks walk as if 

 fettered, and stand erect on their tails ; these are the 

 compedes of Linnaeus. Geese and cranes, and most 

 wild fowls, move in figured flights, often changing 

 their position. The secondary remiges of Tringse, 

 wild ducks, and some others, are very long, and give 

 their wings, when in motion, an hooked appearance. 

 Dabchicks, moor-hens, and coots*, fly erect, with 

 their legs hanging down, and hardly make any dis- 

 patch ; the reason is plain, their wings are placed too 



* Coots have a very powerful flight when once on the wing 

 and fly with their legs stretched out behind, acting the part of a 

 tail, in the manner of the heron. In Scotland and the north of 

 England, they arrive in the marshes and lakes to breed, and 

 retire again at the commencement of winter to the more southern 

 coasts. W. J. 



