GIANTS AND DWARFS 83 



X 



that however big and strong the wings of a 

 bird as big and heavy as an emu or rhea, 

 to say nothing of an ostrich, might be, it could 

 not rise into the air, for the biggest of the 

 flying birds we have nowadays have a good 

 deal of trouble in rising into the air ; in spite 

 of their great wings, they cannot easily lift 

 themselves straight up, though they go fast 

 when they are once started. 



A wild duck will spring straight up off 

 the water to several yards' height, but a swan 

 has to take a long splashing, flapping run 

 before he gets started into the air, though 

 when he is once well up he will pass the duck, 

 in spite of the slowness of the strokes he 

 gives with his great wings. Very few birds 

 that can fly are heavier than a fine male 

 swan, which may weigh thirty pounds, and 

 he is now the giant among our British birds, 

 the smallest being the gold -crested wren. 

 The great bustard, however, which used to 

 live on our open downs and plains, and is 

 still common in parts of the Continent, such 

 as Spain and Russia, is a rival to the swan 

 among the land birds, and the great bustard 

 of Africa, which the Boers call the paauw, is 



