228 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 



LETTER XLII. 



TO THE SAME. 



" Omnibus animalibus reliquis certus et uniusmodi, et in suo cuique genere incessus est : 

 aves solae vario meatu feruntur, et in terra, et in acre." 



SELBORNE, Aug. "jth, 1778. 



DEAR SIR, A good ornithologist should be able to distinguish 

 birds by their air as well as by their colours and shape ; on the 

 ground as well as on the wing ; and in the bush as well as in the 

 hand. For, though it must not be said that every species of birds 

 has a manner peculiar to itself, yet there is somewhat in most 

 genera at least, that at first sight discriminates them, and enables a 

 judicious observer to pronounce upon them with some certainty. 

 Put a bird in motion 



" Et vera incessu patuit ." 



Thus kites and buzzards sail round in circles with wings ex- 

 panded and motionless ; and it is from their gliding manner that 

 the former are still called in the north of England gleads, from the 

 Saxon verb glidan, to glide. The kestrel, or windover, has a 

 peculiar mode of hanging in the air in one place, his wings all the 

 while being briskly agitated. Hen-harriers fly low over heaths or 

 fields of corn, and beat the ground regularly like a pointer or 

 setting-dog. Owls move in a buoyant manner, as if lighter than the 

 air ; they seem to want ballast. There is a peculiarity belonging 

 to ravens that must draw the attention even of the most incurious 

 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, frequently 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 frolicksome manner ; crows and daws swagger in 

 their walk ; woodpeckers fly volatu undoso, opening and closing 

 their wings at every stroke, and so are always rising or falling in 

 curves. All of this genus use their tails, which incline downward, 



