34 
BIRD-LIFE. 
ground they can scarcely walk at all, and can only rise 
again by means of a jerking movement of their long 
elastic wings. So much the more active and nimble are 
they, however, in the air. It is in the air that they pass 
their real life, with its cares and crosses. In from three 
to five days they fly from Germany to the interior of 
Africa, as I have gathered from frequent observations; 
and at the close of autumn make pleasure trips to 
Southern Europe. In their way they are not less 
wonderful than the Frigate bird (Trachypetes Aquila), so 
often beheld with admiration by poets and naturalists, 
and which represents and characterises the mighty 
ocean, as the Swifts do the less majestic mainland. 
This bird the sailor sees in the lower degrees of latitude, 
two hundred German miles from any island, safely and 
proudly soaring above the surging waves, which, it is 
alleged, are never chosen by it as a resting-place for the 
night: it must, therefore, before sun-down have flown 
such a distance to reach its roosting-place as to us would 
represent a long journey. Its great power of motion 
allows it to forget distance and to laugh at the storm; it 
could, if it would, encompass the earth, not in weeks, 
but in days! 
Truly wonderful is the endurance shown by the bird in 
motion. It would seem as though its muscles were of 
steel, and unsusceptible of fatigue. Most birds, as their 
migration proves, are capable of continuing their flight 
for days together without any perceptible pause, and, 
what is equally remarkable, without fatigue. Soaring 
birds, such as Vultures, Eagles, many Falcons, Swallows, 
Gulls and Terns play about in the air for hours at a time, 
with no other object, as it seems, but their pleasure. 
Many are compelled to fly over great distances in order 
