THE SOARING OF BIRDS 



THE soaring of birds is probably the highest form 

 of pleasure derived by living creatures from the use 

 of physical gifts. In it the power of flight reaches 

 its perfect development. To float in air with no 

 effort of the beating wing must be a form of 

 physical beatitude like no other sensation, and birds 

 evidently regard it as such, for, except in the case 

 of those birds which soar mainly to watch for prey 

 from vast heights, it is as a rule reserved by birds 

 as a form of pleasure, many species only soaring in 

 weather which strikes them as inviting them to 

 soar, much as the owner of a boat finds that certain 

 days are particularly inviting for a sail. Other 

 birds only soar at certain hours in the day, and 

 when work is over, and especially before sunset. 

 Mr J. G. Millais when in South Africa noticed 

 that the storks chose the hour before dinner to 

 finish the day by ' drifting spirals ' in the clouds. 

 In his ' Breath from the Veldt ' he gives an exquisite 



102 



