on the wing from the ground. It appears invariably to 

 run along until it reaches the edge of dliff 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 cotirse, 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 aU 

 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 



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