198 MIGRATIONS. 
The swallow, caught in the morning, and closely examined, is 
seen to be a strange and ugly bird, we confess; but this fact per- 
fectly well agrees with what is, par excellence, the bird—the being 
among all beings born for flight. To this object Nature has sacrificed 
everything ; she has laughed at form, thinking only of movement ; 
and has succeeded so well that this bird, ugly in repose, is, when 
flying, the most beautiful of all. 
Scythe-like wings; projecting eyes; no neck (in order to treble 
her strength) ; feet, scarcely any, or none: all is wing. These are her 
great general features. Add a very large beak, always open, which, 
in flight, snaps at its prey without stopping, closes, and again re-opens. 
Thus she feeds while flying; she drinks, she bathes while flying ; 
while flying, she feeds her young. 
If she does not equal in accuracy of line the thunderous swoop of 
the falcon, by way of compensation she is freer; she wheels, makes 
a hundred circles, a labyrinth of undefined figures, a maze of varied 
curves, which she crosses and re-crosses, ad infinitum. Her enemy 
is dazzled, lost, confused, and knows not what to do. She wearies 
and exhausts him; he gives up the chase, but leaves her unfatigued. 
She is the true queen of the air; the incomparable agility of her 
motions makes all space her own. Who, like her, can change in the 
very moment of springing, and turn abruptly? Noone. The infinitely 
varied and capricious pursuit of a prey which is ever fluttering—of the 
gnat, the fly, the beetle, the thousand insects that waver to and fro and 
never keep in the same direction—is, undoubtedly, the best training 
school for flight, and renders the swallow superior to all other birds. 
Nature, to attain this end, to achieve this unique wing, has 
adopted an extreme resolution, that of suppressing the foot. In the 
large church-haunting swallow, which we call the martin, the foot is 
reduced to a mere nothing. The wing gains in proportion; the 
martin, it is said, accomplishes eighty leagues in an hour. This 
astounding swiftness equals even that of the frigate-bird. The foot, 
remarkably short in the latter, is but a stump in the martin; if he 
rests, it is on his belly; so that he never perches. With him it is 
