FLIGHT OF BIRDS. 259 



" Say, what impels, amidst surrounding snow 

 Congeal'd, the crocus' flamy bud to glow ? 

 Say, what retards, amidst the summer's blaze, 

 Th' autumnal bulb, till pale, declining days ? 

 The GOD OF SEASONS ; whose pervading power 

 Controls the sun, or sheds the fleecy shower : 

 He bids each flower his quickening word obey, 

 Or to each lingering bloom enjoins delay." 



XLII. 



" Omnibus animalibus reliquis certus et uniusmodi, et in 

 suo cuique genere incessus est ; aves solae vario meatu ferun- 

 tur, et in terra, et in acre." 



PLIN. Hist. Nat. lib. x. cap. 38. 



A GOOD ornithologist should be able to distin- 

 guish birds by their air, as well as by their colours 

 and shape, on the ground as well as on the wing, 

 and in the bush as well as in the hand. For, 

 though it must not be said that every species of 

 birds has a manner peculiar to itself, yet there is 

 somewhat in most genera at least, that at first sight 

 discriminates them, and enables a judicious ob- 

 server to pronounce upon them with some cer- 

 tainty. Put a bird in motion, 



" Et vera incessu patuit." 



Thus kites and buzzards sail round in circles 

 with wings expanded and motionless ; and it is 

 from their gliding manner that the former are 

 still called in the north of England gleads, from 

 the Saxon verb glidan, to glide. The kestrel or 

 windhover, has a peculiar mode of hanging in the 

 air in one place, his wings all the while being 

 briskly agitated. Hen-harriers fly low over heaths 

 or fields of corn, and beat the ground regularly 

 like a pointer or setting- dog. Owls move in a 

 buoyant manner, as if lighter than the air ; they 

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