on the wing from the ground. It appears invariably to 
run along until it reaches the edge of cliff which lodges its 
burrow, and then, as it were, throw itself over the edge. The 
heron, when springing into the air, stretches his long neck 
out to its fullest extent, and presents a pair of dangling legs, 
well shown in one of our coloured Plates, but when once 
fully on the way its pose entirely changes, the neck being 
drawn in and the legs thrust out backwards. 
Flight does not always mean progress through the air. 
Most birds can, at need, arrest their course, and hang, as it 
were, suspended in the air. In the beautiful coloured Plate, 
representing the chaffinch hovering over its half-fledged 
young, and in that of the kingfisher and its young, this form 
of “ hovering”’ flight can be seen. But the greatest of all 
exponents in the art of hovering is the kestrel, known also, 
‘ 
for this very reason, as the ‘“‘ windover.”’ It is most fascin- 
ating to watch this bird hang, as it were, from the clouds, 
motionless, yet with quivering wings, as he scans the ground 
below in his search for some unsuspecting mouse. It is 
hard, indeed, to say which is the more wonderful, this power 
of remaining stationary for comparatively long periods in 
the air, or the surprising powers of sight which this bird 
possesses. During these hovering movements, always head 
to wind, it will be noted, the tail plays a very important 
part, being spread to its extremest limit, and at the same 
176 
