"ERCLES' VEIN" 107 



wherein he tosses himself a few yards into the air, 

 and comes pitching, tumultuously, down, as though 

 he would tumble all of a heap, yet never fails 

 to alight, cleanly, on his dainty little black legs? 

 This last is "Ercles' vein, a tyrant's vein " : and yet 

 he has higher flights, bolder efforts. In display, for 

 instance, before the female, he will fly round in 

 circles, at a moderate height, with his tail fanned 

 out, making, all the while, a sharp little snappy sort 

 of twittering, and clapping his wings from time to 

 time. He does this at irregular, but somewhat long 

 intervals, but sometimes, instead of a roundabout, he 

 will mount right up, and then, at once, descend, in that 

 same tumultuous, disorderly sort of way, as though 

 he were thrown, several times, by some unseen hand, 

 in the same general direction it looks much more 

 like that than flying. But there is variation here, 

 too, and the bird's ruffling, tousled descent, may 

 be exchanged for a drop, plumb down, till, when 

 almost touching the ground, it slants off, and flits 

 over it, for a little, before finally settling. The 

 ascent is by little spasms of flight, divided from 

 one another by a momentary cessation of effort, 

 during which the wings are pressed to the sides. 



Larks will mount something in this way, too, 

 and, after descending for some time, parachute- wise, 

 and singing, one will often fold his wings to his 

 sides, and shoot down, head first a little " jubilee 

 plunger " for his song is a jubilee. Another way 

 to come down is at a tangent, and sideways, the tip 

 of one wing pointing the way, like the bowsprit of a 

 little ship. Yet another is by terraces, as I call it ; 

 that is to say, after the first dive down from where it 



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