To Mountain Tarn 



birds straining before, to say that she will stay 

 her career at the laggard is altogether to mistake 

 her mood. The one fitter than the rest is the 

 falcon's aim. If this be crime then she is guilty, 

 but we respect her the more. She is a noble 

 criminal. On the whole, I do not think that the 

 falcon deems grouse worthy quarry, or is seen 

 at her best on the moor. There are arenas of 

 greater stress, birds of nimbler flight. 



Grouse rise heavily before the sportsman so 

 heavily as to suggest a startled effort to escape 

 that way when no other seemed open. It may 

 well be so. Flight itself may have come into 

 being, as a refuge from ground enemies not to 

 be distanced, or outwitted, on the level. Wild 

 creatures would not take to the wing without 

 stimulus ; nor apart from some such use would 

 flight, once attained, have been preserved. Those 

 who could rise above reach, and get along a little 

 way with a flapping motion, would have the best 

 chance of surviving. 



When the bird first sprung from the reptile, 

 the air was empty of danger. A lumbering flight 

 was good enough, and would probably have been 

 the highest stage reached. A further stimulus 

 was needed. That came in the form of winged 

 enemies ; pursuers in the same element, and of 

 their own kindred. From such are the per- 

 fection, and all the marvellous mechanism of 

 flight. To distance the pursuer, a bird had to 



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