230 WILD BIRDS 



with those peppery little rushes of sand which sweep 

 along at a foot or two from the ground when there 

 is a strong wind at the seashore. The difference is 

 that the snow is urged across the ground and the 

 sand scarcely lifted clear of it. Neither is sucked 

 upwards as are dust and leaves in March and April 

 when seized by one of those freakish gusts. But 

 much the same features of the curling and spiring 

 round and round as they are rushed onward or up- 

 ward are seen in all four cases dust, leaves, sand, 

 frozen snow. 



Nor is this action seen alone in gusts or half gales. 

 The smoke from a steamer at sea, in an air which we 

 should call " dead calm/' spires and winds about 

 in a most suggestive way. Again, in the movements 

 of the sea-foam foam as it is carried off the wave 

 edge at the breaking point, or swept clear of the water 

 and over the glittering sand on the shore we see 

 often some such curling, whirling action. 



Smoke, sea-scud, sand, dust, snow, and dry dead 

 leaves, then, are all played with in much the same 

 way. Finally, sky-clouds of all varieties, from the 

 gross bulk of cumulus to the faery wisps of cirrus, 

 often illustrate the same action of air and wind. 



What exactly is this action ? A friend deeply 

 interested in flight has quite made up his mind. 

 " When the air is in motion it becomes a series of 

 cog-wheels." This is his main theory, and he is 

 ready to argue why it is that the figure-of-eight 

 or the waved-track which is the figure-of-eight 

 unravelled is so operative in the work of riding on 



