OF SKLBORNE. 333 



they spend all their leisure time in striking and cuffing 

 each other on the wing in a kind of playful skirmish ; 

 and when they move from one place to another, fre- 

 quently turn on their backs with a loud croak, and 

 seem to be falling to the ground. When this odd 

 gesture betides them, they are scratching themselves 

 with one foot, and thus lose the centre of gravity. 

 Rooks sometimes dive and tumble in a. frolicsome 

 manner ; crows and daws swagger in their walk ; wood- 

 peckers fly volatu undoso, opening and closing their 

 wings at every stroke, and so are always rising or fall- 

 ing in curves. All of this genus use their tails, which 

 incline downward, as a support while they run up trees. 

 Parrots, like all other hooked-clawed birds, walk awk- 

 wardly, and make use of their bill as a third foot, 

 climbing and descending with ridiculous caution. All 

 the Gallince parade and walk gracefully, and run nimbly ; 

 but fly with difficulty, with an impetuous whirring, and 

 in a straight line. Magpies and jays flutter with power- 

 less wings, and make no dispatch ; herons seem encum- 

 bered with too much sail for their light bodies; but 

 these vast hollow wings are necessary in carrying bur- 

 thens, such as large fishes, and the like ; pigeons, and 

 particularly the sort called smiters, have a way of 

 clashing their wings the one against the other over their 

 backs with a loud snap; another variety called tum- 

 blers turn themselves over in the air. Some birds have 

 movements peculiar to the season of pairing: thus ring- 

 doves, though strong and rapid at other times, yet in 

 the spring hang about on the wing in a toying and play- 

 ful manner ; thus the cock-snipe, while breeding, for- 

 getting his former flight, fans the air like the wind-hover; 

 and the greenfinch in particular exhibits such languish- 

 ing and faltering gestures as to appear like a wounded 

 and dying bird; the kingfisher 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 



