THE FLIGHT OF BIRDS 73 



nest in Alaska have seven thousand miles 

 to travel to their probable winter home in 

 Brazil." 



Contrast 



"The Buzzard sails on, 

 And comes and is gone, 

 Stately and still, 

 Like a ship at sea." 



In this fragment of Southern poetry 

 there are noted four qualities which the 

 turkey buzzard shows when on the wing: 



(1) Sailing. He sails through the air 

 as truly as a ship sails over the water. 



(2) Instantaneousness. He "comes and 

 is gone." Indeed, his appearance and 

 disappearance are so instantaneous as to 

 suggest the preter-natural. (3) Stateli- 

 ness. Phases there are of the circular 

 flying which are even majestic. (4) Still- 

 ness. Not quite the word, but the bird 

 has what the artists call "repose in action." 



But there is another, and a most sig- 

 nificant quality too, which the poet has 



