THROUGH THE YEAR 35 



the absolute ideal of motion in a live thing :* tremen- 

 dous power over its element, perfect ease and grace, 

 all three combine in this bird. The power and the 

 grace of the thing are clear. The ease of it is not 

 less sure, if one thinks of the matter at all, for the 

 male swift is abroad quite early in the morning and 

 does not rush to roost till between eight and nine 

 on a summer evening, and during the daytime rarely 

 leaves the air for a rest, as swallows and martins do. 

 The swift was not made to sit or rest on trees 

 as most other birds were built. It has but a hook 

 to hitch on to rock or building, and this is chiefly 

 used in the work of scraping together a nest, and 

 later in steadying itself when feeding the young. 

 A swift does want rest during the daytime, like every 

 other flying thing ; it tires and must perch awhile 

 and its perch is the air ! Besides these features 

 of a swift's flight that always strike one when the 

 bird reappears in England in May power, ease and 

 grace there is a fourth that many must notice : 

 the feature of simplicity. The action of its wings and 

 the figure it presents in the air are most simple. 

 Yet this fourth feature is only superficial. The feat 

 of the swift is really one of the most complex acts. 

 This mastery over the air, or kinship with the air, 

 could only have been won after an immense age of 

 creative effort. There was the bending and cutting 

 and tapering of the wing to the perfect form for 

 powerful flight in which we see it to-day. It is im- 



* A swift is flight. It is a synonym for flight. See " The 

 Airy Way," page i. 



