PECULIARITIES OF BIRDS. 
211 
LETTER XLIL To the Hon. DAINES BARRINGTON. 
*' Omnibus animalibus reliquis certiis et uniusmodi, et in suo cuique genere inces- 
SU3 est : aves solse vario meatu feruntur, et in terra, et in aere." 
Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. x. cap. 38. 
DEAR SIR, Selborne, Aug. 7, 1778. 
A GOOD ornithologist should be able to distinguish birds by their 
air as well as by their colours and shape ; on the ground as well 
as on the wing, and in the bush as well as in the hand. For, 
though it must not be said that every species of birds has a man- 
ner peculiar to itself, yet there is somewhat in most genera at 
least, that at first sight discriminates them, and enables a judicious 
observer to pronounce upon them with some certainty. Put a 
bird in motion 
" Et vera incessu patuit " 
Thus kites and buzzards sail round in circles with wings ex- 
panded and motionless ; and it is from their gliding manner that 
the former are still called in the north of England gleads, from 
the Saxon verb glidan to glide. The kestrel, or wind-hover, has 
a peculiar mode of hanging in the air in one place, his wings all 
the while being briskly agitated. Hen- 
harriers fly low over heaths or fields 
of corn, and beat the ground regularly 
like a pointer or setting- dog. Owls 
move in a buoyant manner, as if lighter 
than the air ; they seem to want bal- 
last. 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. Rooks sometimes dive 
and tumble m a frohcsome manner : crows and daws swagger in 
'their walk ; wood-peckers fly volatu undoso, opening and closing 
their wings at every stroke, and so are always rising or falling in 
