A SUBURBAN ESTATE 37 



ful exercise is performed without any visible move- 

 ment of their outstretched wings ; and from the time 

 the birds commence soaring, until they look smaller 

 than a skylark at its highest elevation, there is not 

 even a single flap or beat of the wings. How is it 

 done? If there was any wind it might be accounted 

 for by supposing that the force of air behind on one 

 side of the circle drove the actors forward to sur- 

 mount the breeze when they met it. But I have seen 

 kestrels soaring in a perfect calm, in the sweltering heat 

 of summer, when even all birds except skylarks seem 

 to stop their songs. I have seen the little red hawk 

 go towards the blue with outspread wings, when even 

 the silvery thistledown, dropping from the tall plants, 

 falls to the greensward below instead of floating 

 lightly away, and when a falling leaf drops like a 

 stone from the highest tree ; in those depressing days, 

 when swallows sit on leafy trees and rest from the 

 noonday heat, the kestrel goes upward unhelped by 

 any wind. 



Other birds besides hawks have this power of 

 soaring. If one wishes to see the full mystery 

 of such flight, it is necessary to see certain sea-birds 

 in a gale. Many times I have watched lesser black- 

 backed gulls sailing slowly and surely with motionless 

 wings, in the teeth of the stiffest gales. The stronger 

 the wind the more perfect and wonderful their 

 movement seems to be ; for it is not until they turn 



