NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORXE. 165 



even of the most incurious they spend all their leisure time in striking 

 and cuffing each other on the wing in a kind of playful skirmish ; and, 

 when they move from one place to another, frequently turn on their 

 backs with a loud croak, and seem to be falling to the ground. "When 

 this odd gesture betides them, they are scratching themselves with one 

 foot, and thus lose the center of gravity. Rooks sometimes dive and 

 tumble in a frolicksome manner; crows and daws swagger in their 

 walk ; wood-peckers fly volatu undoso, opening and closing their wings 

 at every stroke, and so are always rising or falling in curves. All of 

 this genus use their tails, which incline downward, as a support while 

 they run up trees. Parrots, like all other hooked-clawed birds, walk 

 awkwardly, and make use of their bill as a third foot, climbing and 

 descending with ridiculous caution. All the gallince parade and walk 

 gracefully, and run nimbly ; but fly with difficulty, with an impetuous 

 whirring, and in a straight line. Magpies and jays flutter with 

 powerless wings, and make no dispatch ; herons seem incumbered with 

 too much sail for their light bodies, but these vast hollow wings are 

 necessary in carrying burdens, such as large fishes and the like ; pigeons, 

 and particularly the sort called smiters, have a way of clashing their 

 wings the one against the other over their backs with a loud snap ; 

 another variety, called tumblers, turn themselves over in the air. 

 Some birds have movements peculiar to the season of love : thus ring- 

 doves, though strong and rapid at other times, yet in the spring hang 

 about on the wing in a toying and playful manner ; thus the cock-snipe, 

 while breeding, forgetting his former flight, fans the air like the wind- 

 hover ; and the green-finch in particular, exhibits such languishing and 

 faultering gestures 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 perpendicu- 

 larly 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, an 

 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 center of 

 gravity ; as the legs of auks and divers are situated too backward. 



