234 The Naturalist in Siluria. 



birds — one or more such destroyers in every parish — to 

 the danger of their extirpation and the damage of our 

 scenery ! 



The whole thing is a stupid mistake, calling for reme- 

 dial legislation", and loudly too. I am no advocate for 

 the abolition of our Game Laws ; quite the contrary. 

 Were they done away with, we would soon have no game 

 to legislate for, and the nation would be the loser thereby, 

 if only in the grosser sense of food produce, to an amount 

 few have any idea of. But there are other tastes to be 

 gratified than that of the palate — other cravings to be 

 considered besides those of the stomach — and, without 

 fearing to be taken for a " too utterly," I venture on 

 saying that, to a man of true refinement and appreciation 

 of the beautiful, the spectacle of one of our Falconidoe in 

 flight through upper air were worth more than all the 

 pheasants and partridges it is ever likely to " stoop " 

 down upon. 



THE FLIGHT OF BIRDS— HOW TURN THEY 

 SIMULTANEOUSLY ? 



Speaking of the flight of falcons leads to thinking about 

 that of other birds ; and I am reminded of a large flock 

 of starlings, with another of lapwings, I lately saw close 

 together when out for a drive. I was forcibly struck, 

 though not for the first time, with that peculiarity in the 

 flight of both species, which I believe has never been 

 explained, if indeed ever understood. I mean the whole 

 flock changing course at exactly the same instant, no 

 matter how quick or abrupt the turn, or whether the 

 evolutions be upward, downward, to right or to left. 



