RAVENS IN SOMERSET 111 



pipits, and many other species. The raven sud- 

 denly closes his outspread wings, just as a man 

 might drop his arms to his sides, and falls head 

 downwards through the air like a stone bird cast 

 down from its pedestal ; but he falls obliquely, 

 and, after falUng for a space of fifteen or twenty 

 feet, he throws out his wings and floats for a 

 few seconds on the air, then falls again, and 

 then again, until the earth is reached. 



Let the reader imagine a series of invisible 

 wires stretched, wire above wire, at a distance 

 of thirty or forty yards apart, to a height of 

 six or seven hundred yards from the earth. 

 Let him next imagine an acrobat, infinitely 

 more daring, more agile, and graceful in action 

 than any performer he has ever seen — imagine 

 him standing on the highest wire of all, in his 

 black silk tights, against the blue sky, his arms 

 outstretched, then dropping his arms to his sides 

 and diving through the air to the next wire, 

 then to the next, and so on successively until 

 he comes to the earth. The feat would be 

 similar, only on a larger scale and less beautiful 

 than that of the ravens as I witnessed it again 

 and again from the cliff on that windy day. 



