Couriers of the Air. 51 



generally make their migrations in safety. And 

 yet this is the smallest and frailest British bird 

 a mere fluff of feathers, weighing only seventy 

 grains. Another of the tits, the oxeye, has 

 been met upon two occasions at six hundred 

 and nine hundred miles from land. With regard 

 to those birds which cross the Atlantic, it matters 

 not for our purpose whether they are driven by 

 stress of weather or cross voluntarily suffice it 

 they come. Less likely birds that have occurred 

 in Britain are the belted kingfisher and Ame- 

 rican yellow-billed cuckoo. The white-winged 

 crossbill must be mentioned with less cer- 

 tainty, for, although a North American bird, 

 it is also found in some northern European 

 countries. 



All birds of great and sustained powers of 

 flight have one well-marked characteristic they 

 have long wings, with sharply-pointed ends. 

 The general truth of this will be at once 

 admitted if the rule be applied to the various 

 species mentioned above. Another point is 

 worthy of notice. The apparent speed of flight 

 to ah unpractised eye is most deceptive. A 

 heron, as it rises and flaps languidly along the 

 course of a brook, appears not only to progress 

 slowly but to use its wings in like manner. 

 Yet the Duke of Argyll has pointed out, and 

 any one may verify the statement by his watch, 

 that the heron seldom flaps his wings at a rate of 



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