JUNE JOYS 137 



Or is it that we recognise in the bird a being 

 superior, in one feature, to ourselves, and so feel 

 the greater triumph in -possessing it ? 



However this may be, it is certain that of all the 

 powers possessed by animals, flight is the most 

 difficult of human attainment, and yet the most 

 desired by man. The power of the wing is to him 

 a source of ceaseless wonder and enjoyment. Few 

 of us observe without interest a great bird, swan 

 or heron, soaring its rapid way across the sky. 

 People find pleasure in watching the mad rushing 

 of the swift, the noisy gambols of rooks, or even 

 the comparatively cumbrous evolutions of the 

 domestic pigeon. But it is when some long- 

 winged hawk glides athwart us, seemingly 

 impelled by spiritual rather than material 

 forces, that we realise how lovely flight may be. 

 The nearer the better, and even at a distance, 

 when the bird is poised above some barren hillside, 

 it is often the most admirable creature to be seen. 

 Always does that even flight give pleasure by its 

 beauty and inspire respect by its strength ; it is 

 the motion of a thing that has conquered the wind 

 and feels not the chain of gravity. All this is 



