212 THE LIFE OF THE FIELDS. 



they seemed about to actually enter the blue, till they 

 were smaller in appearance than larks at their highest 

 ascent, till the head had to be thrown right back to 

 see them. This last circumstance shows how per- 

 pendicularly they ascend, winding round a line drawn 

 straight up. At their very highest they are hardly 

 visible, except when the under wing and breast passes 

 and gleams in the light. 



All this is accomplished with outstretched wings 

 held at full length, without flap, or beat, or any 

 apparent renewal of the original impetus. If you 

 take a flat stone and throw it so that it will spin, it will 

 go some way straight, then rise, turn aside, describe 

 a half-circle, and fall. If the impetus kept in it, it 

 would soar like the hawk, but this does not happen. 

 A boomerang acts much in the same manner, only 

 more perfectly : yet, however forcibly thrown, the 

 impetus soon dies out of a boomerang. A skater gets 

 up his utmost speed, suddenly stands on one foot, and 

 describes several circles ; but in two minutes comes to 

 a standstill, unless he "screws," or works his skate, 

 and so renews the impulse. Even at his best he only 

 goes round, and does not raise his weight an inch from 

 the ice. The velocity of a bullet rapidly decreases, 

 and a ball shot from an express rifle, and driven by a 

 heavy charge, soon begins to droop. When these facts 

 are duly considered, it will soon be apparent what a 

 remarkable feat soaring really is. The hawk does not 

 always ascend in a spiral, but every now and then 

 revolves in a circle — a flat circle — and suddenly shoots 

 up with renewed rapidity. Whether this be merely 

 sportive wantonness or whether it is a necessity, is 



