228 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 



flight, fans the air like the wind-hover \ and the green-finch, 

 in particular, exhibits such languishing and faltering ges- 

 tures as to appear like a wounded and dying bird ; the 

 king-fisher 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 

 themselves 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 perpendicularly 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 compedes of Linnaeus. Geese and cranes, and 

 most wild fowls, move in figured flights, often changing 

 their position. The secondary remiges of Tringae, wild- 

 ducks, and some others, are very long, and give their wings, 

 when in motion, a hooked appearance. Dabchicks, 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. 



