a butterfly. Most of the small birds fly by jerks, 

 rising and falling as they advance ; many of them 

 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 ges- 

 ticulations over the tops of hedges and bushes. All 

 the duck-kind waddle ; divers, and auks, walk as if 

 fettered, and stand erect on their tail : these are the 

 compedes of Linnasus. Geese and cranes, and most 

 wild-fowl, move in figured flights, often changing 

 their position. The secondary remiges of Tringce, 

 wild-ducks, and some others, are very long, and give 

 their wings, when in motion, a hooked appearance. 

 Dab-chicks, moor-hens, and coots, fly erect, with 

 their legs hanging down, and hardly make any de- 

 spatch ; the reason is plain, their wings are placed 

 too forward out of the true centre of gravity for 

 rapid progression; as the legs of auks and divers 

 are situated too backward. 



Selborne. Aug. 7, 1778. 



109 



