X. 
BIRDS: THEIR NESTS AND HABITS. 
By George Booper, E.Z.S. 
A lecture delivered at Watford, 15 th January , 1889. 
On the last occasion, some years since, on which I had the pleasure 
of addressing the members of our Society, I brought under their 
notice, in a hasty and necessarily imperfect manner, some of the 
great writers on Natural History, more especially on Ornithology, 
ancient and modern, whose works are regarded as authorities on the 
subject. I referred to Pliny and Aristotle, Linnseus, Buff on, White, 
Waterton, and—last, not least—that pleasantest of writers, Prank 
Buckland. I may say in reference to him, that in his biography, 
published two or three years since, will he found a long extract, I 
venture to think not the least amusing portion of the book, from 
that address. I mention this to show that our Transactions find 
appreciative readers beyond the limited circle of our members. 
I propose now to pass from the writers to the subjects of their 
writings, from the authors to the birds treated of by them, and to 
record such facts as, having come under my own observation, may 
seem of sufficient interest to claim your attention. 
Birds differ from each other not more in size and colour of 
plumage than they do in their gait, their mode of flight, their 
nests, and their songs. Take their gait. The pigeon walks, phea¬ 
sants run, the rook struts, herons stalk, ducks waddle, sparrows hop, 
as dp most of the small birds, but larks and water-wagtails run. 
The swift, if he settle on the ground, which he very rarely does, 
can hardly be said to walk at all. Prom the shortness of his legs 
he is just able to scramble along, whilst the grebe and the whole 
tribe of auks move in an upright position, their legs being placed so 
far backwards, and walk like yokels running in sacks, as if they 
were always about to tumble on their noses. 
Then consider the flight of birds, the different modes in which 
they use their wings. The kite glides through the air in graceful 
curves. He is called in Scotland the “glead,” from this gliding 
motion. Scott has— 
“ When the hound’s in the greenwood, 
The deer keeps the hill: 
When the glead’s in the blue cloud, 
The lavrock lies still.” 
The woodpecker and missel-thrush fly in a series of jerks and 
broken falls, rising and sinking as they go. Pigeons seem always 
in a hurry, and dash off their roost, striking the tips of their wings 
against each other as they fly straight to their point, as, at a lesser 
speed, do the rooks. The cuckoo flies in an aimless desultory 
manner, crying “ Cuckoo! ” as he flies, and not seeming to have 
made up his mind where he is going to. Swallows skim over the 
surface of the water, whilst the grebes use their wings to assist 
them in seeking its depth. The kestrel hovers over the devoted 
mouse or humble beetle he has marked for his prey; the buzzard 
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VOL. V. —PART IV. 
