The Natural History of Selborne 311 



finch in particular, exhibits such languishing and faltering gestures 

 as to appear like a wounded and dying bird ; the king-fisher darts 

 along like an arrow ; fern-owls, or goat-suckers, glance in the dusk 

 over the tops of trees like a meteor ; starlings as it were swim along, 

 while missel-thrushes use a wild and desultory flight ; swallows sweep 

 over the surface of the ground and water, and distinguish themselves 

 by rapid turns and quick evolutions ; swifts dash round in circles ; 

 and the bank-martin moves with frequent vacillations like a butter- 

 fly. Most of the small birds fly by jerks, rising and falling as they 

 advance. Most small birds hop ; but wagtails and larks walk, 

 moving their legs alternately. Skylarks rise and fall perpendicularly 

 as they sing ; woodlarks hang poised in the air ; and tit-larks rise 

 and fall in large curves, singing in their descent. The white-throat 

 uses odd jerks and gesticulations over the tops of hedges and bushes. 

 All the duck-kind waddle ; divers and auks walk as if fettered, and 

 stand erect on their tails : these are the compedes of Linnaeus* 

 Geese and cranes, and most wild fowls, move in figured flights^ 

 often changing their position. The secondary remiges of Tringae, 

 wild ducks, and some others, are very long, and give their wings, 

 when in motion, an hooked appearance. Dabchicks, moor-hens, 

 and coots fly erect, with their legs hanging down, and hardly make 

 any dispatch ; the reason is plain, their wings are placed too forward 

 out of the true centre of gravity ; as the legs of auks and divers are 

 situated too backward. 



