FLIGHT OF HUMMING-BIRDS 23 



Sparrow frequently practises the trick over long 

 grass in summer in order to locate insect prey. 

 The Kingfisher also frequently hovers, when a 

 handy perch to swoop from is not available, and 

 in India the Pied Kingfisher is the most familiar of 

 hovering birds, this species seeming always to 

 make its survey of the fishing-ground on the wing. 



Hoverers of the more skilled types raise and lower 

 themselves with great ease and skill, such flying 

 reaching its perfection in the Humming-birds, 

 which almost invariably hover when feeding, and 

 dart sideways or even backwards as unconcernedly as 

 dragon- flies. They seem indeed to represent these 

 insects in the bird world, for like them they are 

 no pedestrians, only using their feet for perching 

 or clinging, since if any bird is unable to progress 

 on the ground it would appear to be these, and 

 they seldom shift their position even when perched. 



In conformity with their insect-like flight, the 

 wings of the Humming-birds are much like those 

 of insects in shape, the segments of the arm between 

 the pinion and the body being much reduced, so 

 that there is little action except from the shoulder. 

 Not all of them, however, move their wings with 

 the insect-like quickness which in the small kinds 

 results in the hum that gives these truly fairy 

 creatures their name, for the largest species (Pata- 

 gona gigas), which is as big as a Swift, flaps its wings 

 at an ordinary rate of speed and quite visibly. The 

 slowing of the wing-stroke in accordance with 

 increase of size seems to be a general rule in birds. 



