FLIGHT OF COMMON BIRDS 



I sing you a song of a swallow 

 With a purple breast and buoyant wings, 

 Curving down where the south wind springs 

 From out of a grassy hollow. 



The turtle-dove's course through the air is 

 almost noiseless, swift, sustained, vigorous, 

 and suggestive of power. His feathers lie 

 closely to his body, and his wings are strong 

 and capable of carrying him at a high rate 

 of speed. On rising from the ground, be- 

 fore getting under full headway, his wings 

 beat in a nervous flappy way, and when set- 

 tling to a perch there is a fluttering of both 

 wings and tail before the bird quiets down. 

 But when fairly launched the flight of the 

 dove is very striking. It seems fairly to 

 pierce the air, and at times appears to be a 

 succession of long drives through space, the 

 bird shifting its direction and even partly 

 turning its body with the utmost ease when at 

 top speed. They go a great deal in pairs in 

 the summer-time, but as autumn comes on 

 they will be found in the cornfields and stub- 

 bles in flocks. 



With the yellow-hammer, or, more prop- 

 erly speaking, the golden - winged wood- 

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