OUTDOORS 



like tail of the crow-blackbird seems to be 

 used by him to steer his course with. Single 

 blackbirds have a fashion of flying high, and 

 this will sometimes aid in determining what 

 kind of a bird is in the air. 



The blue-jay flies on a more level course 

 than most of the common birds. He will 

 start on a line and keep it, and his bright 

 blue wings beat the air lightly but steadily 

 as he passes by, neither rising nor falling, 

 but keeping the even tenor of his way. The 

 shrike, or " butcher-bird," has a somewhat 

 similar way of flying, but the shrike haunts 

 the hedges and the open field, the blue-jay 

 the woods. And even with this difference of 

 environment, the shrike's flight is smoother 

 than the jay's. He reels off space as you 

 might unravel an old yarn mitten. In size 

 he is almost the same as the jay, and in color 

 of a subdued gray and brownish black. But 

 a hunter can tell which is which when both 

 are flying from the same hedge, even when 

 it is too cloudy and far away to distinguish 

 colors. 



The meadow-lark soars, skims, and flut- 

 ters. When flushed from the fields he rises 

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