of Selborne 203 



called smiters, have a way of clashing their wings tlie one 

 against the other over their backs with a loud snap ; 

 another variety called tumblers turn themselves over in 

 the air. Some birds have movements peculiar to the 

 season of love : thus ring-doves, though strong and rapid 

 at other times, yet in the spring hang about on the wing 

 in a toying and playful manner ; thus the cock-snipe, 

 while breeding, forgetting his former flight, fans the air 

 like the wind-hover ; and the green-finch in particular 

 exhibits such languishing and faltering gestures as to 

 appear like a wounded and dying bird; the kingfisher 

 darts along like an arrow; fern-owls, or goat-suckers, 

 glance in the dusk over the tops of trees like a meteor ; 

 starlings as it were swim along, while missel-thrushes use 

 a wild and desultory flight ; swallows sweep over the 

 surface of the ground and water, and distinguish them- 

 selves by rapid turns and quick evolutions ; swifts dash 

 round in circles ; and the bank-martin moves with 

 frequent vacillations like a butterfly. , Most of the small 

 birds fly by jerks, rising and falling as they advance. 

 Most small birds hop ; but wagtails and larks walk, 

 moving their legs alternately. Skylarks rise and fall per- 

 pendicularly as they sing : woodlarks hang poised in the 

 air ; and titlarks rise and fall in large curves, singing in 

 their descent. The white-throat uses odd jerks and 

 gesticulations over the tops of hedges and bushes. All 

 the duck-kind waddle ; divers and auks walk as if fettered, 

 and stand erect on their tails : these are the compcdes of 

 Linnaeus. Geese and cranes, and most wild-fowls, move 

 in figured flights, often changing their position. The 

 secondary remiges of frtng^E, wild-ducks, and some others, 

 are very long, and give their wings, when in motion, an 

 hooked appearance. Dab-chicks, moor-hens, and coots, 

 fly erect, with their legs hanging down, and hardly make 

 any dispatch ; the reason is plain, their wings are placed 

 too forward out of the true centre of gravity ; as the legs 

 of auks and divers are situated too backward. 



