A Bird's-Eye View 



after the same nature are the hawks, the largest 

 of which hardly stand second to the eagle, but 

 whose essentially injurious nature (as it is mis- 

 takenly judged) has made mankind almost 

 oblivious of their finer and grander aspect. 

 Diverse in many ways from the foregoing, and 

 yet closely allied in aerial temperament, are the 

 familiar swifts and swallows, sportively expend- 

 ing on the wing their exhaustless stock of en- 

 ergy, a constant symbol in the sky of joy and 

 silent laughter. In all the animal kingdom I 

 know of nothing that portrays a wilder rapture 

 — ^not even excepting the heartiest outpour of a 

 jubilant songster — than the voiceless transport 

 of a large flock of swallows in the autumn, as 

 they mingle, young and old, preparatory to 

 their departure for the South — the former in 

 the freshness of their new and untried life, the 

 latter, as if celebrating their release from the 

 cares of summer — in the eager, perplexing 

 mazes of exuberant flight ; a prolonged exhil- 

 aration, a feathered rhapsody ; which, while it 

 wearies them not, leaves the beholder almost 

 breathless. Such a scene, common though it 

 be, is in the highest degree inspiriting; and 

 the contemplation of the collective species of 

 this group is intimately associated with some of 



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