BABBLERS AND BULBULS 85 



the way in which individual birds are constantly 

 bobbing up and down, appearing and disappearing 

 abruptly as they flounce about, has a very comic 

 effect from a little distance, and it is often hard 

 to say whether the objects that suddenly leap into 

 the air are birds or withered leaves. Their flight 

 is a sad performance. When crossing narrow spaces 

 of open ground, they either run, or, after executing 

 an initial series of feeble flappings, sail onwards 

 with widely expanded wings, their pace flagging 

 and their line of flight sinking rapidly as they 

 advance towards their goal. Should they wish to 

 fly across any comparatively wide space, they can 

 only do so by climbing a tree at one side of it 

 to a height sufficient to allow for the rapid descent 

 that attends their flight. In such cases their mode 

 of advance is very like that of a flying squirrel, 

 who, starting from a point high up in one tree, 

 sails downwards in an oblique line towards the 

 base of the one that he wishes to reach. Their 

 feeble flight is made up for by their great activity 

 in running, and by the wonderful way in which 

 they can cling to almost vertical surfaces. When 

 in trees they race along the branches in Indian 

 file, often jumping over one another as they go, 

 and run up and down the stems, clinging to the 

 bark like creepers. The prehensile power of their 

 feet not only gives them great ease in climbing, but 

 is also of great use to them in grasping articles of 



