THE FLIGHT OF BIRDS 



flyer as the monarch beats its way back to shore, 

 and, indeed, the monarch habitually flies long dis- 

 tances over salt water when migrating along our 

 seacoast in spring and fall. 



At the moment of writing these paragraphs, I 

 saw a hen-hawk flap heavily by, pursued by a 

 kingbird. The air was phenomenally still, not a 

 leaf stirred, and the hawk was compelled to beat 

 his wings vigorously. No soaring now, no mount- 

 ing heavenward, as I have seen him mount till his 

 petty persecutor grew dizzy with the height and 

 returned to earth. But the next day, with a fairly 

 good breeze blowing, I watched two hawks for 

 many minutes climbing their spiral stairway to the 

 skies, till they became very small objects against the 

 clouds, and not once did they flap their wings! 

 Then one of them turned toward the mountain-top 

 and sailed straight into the face of the wind, till 

 he was probably over his mate or young, when, with 

 half -folded wings, he shot down into the tree-tops 

 like an arrow. 



In regard to powers of flight, the birds of the 

 air may be divided into three grand classes: those 

 which use their wings simply to transport them- 

 selves from one place to another, the same use we 

 put our legs to, those which climb the heavens 

 to attain a wide lookout, either for the pleasure of 

 soaring, or to gain a vantage-point from which to 

 scan a wide territory in search of food or prey, 



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