25i 
NATURAL 
HISTORY 
dog. Owls move in a buoyant manner, as if liglitcr than 
the air ; they seem to want ballast. There "iS a peculiarity 
belonging to ravens that must draw the attention even of 
the most incurious — they spend all their leisure time in 
striking and cuffing each other on the wing in a kind of 
playful skirmish ; and when they move from one place to 
another, frequently turn on their backs with a loud croak, 
and seem to be falling to the ground. When this odd 
gesture betides them, they are scratching themselves with 
one foot, and thus lose the centre of gravity. Eooks 
sometimes dive and tumble in a frolicsome manner ; crows 
and daws swagger in their walk ; woodpeckers fly volatu 
undosOj opening and closing their wings at every stroke, 
and so are always rising or falling in curves. All of this 
genus use their tails, which incline downward, as a support 
while they run up trees. Parrots, like all other hooked- 
clawed birds, walk awkwardly, and make use of their bill 
as a third foot, climbing and descending with ridiculous 
caution. All the Gallince parade and walk gracefully, and 
run nimbly; but fly with difficulty, with an impetuous 
whirring, and in a straight line. Magpies and jays flutter 
with powerless wings, and make no dispatch ; herons seem 
encumbered with too much sail for their light bodies ; but 
these vast hollow wings are necessary in carrying burthens, 
such as large fishes, and the like ; pigeons, and particularly 
the sort called smiters, have a way of clashing their wings 
the one against the other over their backs with a loud snap; 
another variety called tumblers turn themselves over in the 
air. Some birds have movements peculiar to the season of 
pairing : thus ring-doves, though strong and rapid at other 
times, yet in the spring hang about on the wing in a toying 
and playful manner ; thus the cock-snipe, while breeding, 
forgetting his former flight, fans the air like the wind-hover; 
and the greenfin«h in particular exhibits such languishing 
and faltering gestures as to appear like a wounded and 
dying bird ; the kingfisher darts along like an arrow ; fern- 
owls, or goat-suckers, glance in the dusk over the tops of 
trees like a meteor ; starlings, as it were, swim along, while 
missel- thrushes use a wild and desultory flight; swallows 
