Character of Bird Life 



The impression left after watching the motions of birds 

 is that of extreme mobility — a life of perpetual impulse 

 checked only by fear. With one or two exceptions, they 

 do not appear to have the least idea of saving labour by 

 clearing one spot of ground of food before flying farther : 

 they just hastily snatch a morsel and off again ; or, in a 

 tree, peer anxiously into every crack and crevice on one 

 bough, and away to another tree a hundred yards distant, 

 leaving fifty boughs behind without examination. Star- 

 lings literally race over the earth where they are feeding 

 — jealous of each other lest one should be first, and so 

 they leave a tract all around not so much as looked at. 

 Then, having run a little way, they rise and fly to another 

 part of the field. Each starling seems full of envy and 

 emulation — eager to outstrip his fellow in the race for 

 titbits ; and so they all miss much of what they might 

 otherwise find. Their life is so gregarious that it resembles 

 that of men in cities : watching one another with feverish 

 anxiety — pushing and bustling. Larks are much calmer, 

 and always appear placid even in their restlessness, and 

 do not jostle their neighbours. 



See — the hawk, after going nearly out of sight, has 

 swept round, and passes again at no great distance ; this 

 is a common habit of his kind, to beat round in wide 

 circles. As the breeze strikes him aslant his course he 

 seems to fly for a short time partly on one side, like a 

 skater sliding on the outer edge. 



There is a rough grass growing within the enclosure 

 of the earthwork and here and there upon the hills, which 

 the sheep will not eat, so that it remains in matted masses. 

 In this the hares make their forms ; and they must, some- 

 how, have a trick of creeping into their places, since many 

 of the grass-blades often arch over, and if they sprang into 



