THE SUMMIT OF THE YEARS 



ill at ease. I cast a pebble above him and away he 

 goes into the free air, his parents wheeling about 

 him, and leading him on in an evident state of ex- 

 citement. How well he used his wings on that first 

 flight, swooping and soaring with but little appear- 

 ance of awkwardness or hesitation ' After a few mo- 

 ments he comes back to the barn roof and alights on 

 the other side beyond my sight. During the after- 

 noon the other three venture out at intervals and 

 fly about the interior of the barn for some time 

 before venturing outside, their parents flying with 

 them and cheering encouragingly. 



When once launched on the wing, the next great 

 problem with them seemed to be how to alight. It 

 was evidently a trying problem. They would make 

 feints at stopping upon this beam or upon that, but 

 could not quite manage it till, in an awkward manner, 

 they would flop down somewhere. In a good many 

 things we ourselves find it more difficult to stop than 

 to start. In the course of the afternoon they all went 

 forth into the air with their parents, and, I think, 

 never returned to the interior of the barn. At five 

 o'clock I saw them perched upon the tops of dry 

 mullein-stalks in the pasture. As I approached 

 them, they took flight and coursed through the air 

 high and low, over the tree-tops and above the 

 valley, with wonderful ease and freedom. After a 

 while they returned to the mullein-stalks and again 

 betrayed their inexperience by their awkwardness 

 230 



