FLIGHT OF COMMON BIRDS 



electric fan, and his brilliant colors gleam in 

 the sunlight. He is a toy, gemmed with 

 jewelled green and gold, radiantly bright. 

 Suddenly he has slipped from sight, as a 

 shining dew-drop might glide into the depths 

 of a red-clover blossom. He has darted 

 twenty feet as swift as thought, and again is 

 poising, in a kaleidoscopic glitter, above a 

 spray of honeysuckle. The humming-bird's 

 movement is the most spritelike of all the 

 birds. You can neither hear it nor trace it, 

 and only partially divine it by mere sight. It 

 is a sudden blossoming of wings in mid-air, 

 a ceasing, a reappearing, and then a void 

 where had hung beauty, grace, energy, color, 

 and life. 



The robin's flight, like his manner, is se- 

 date and unobtrusive. It is a succession of 

 flittings, and not marked by any particular 

 individuality. It is easily distinguishable, 

 however, from the other birds. The black- 

 birds, red-winged, crow-blackbird or purple 

 grackle, and the cow-blackbird have a long, 

 wavy flight, with not very much dip in the 

 movement. Their habit of flying in flocks 

 makes the flight very noticeable. The rudder- 



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