THE NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE., 197 
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 buoy- 
ant manner, as if lighter 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 them- 
selves with one foot, and thus lose the centre of gravity. 
Rooks sometimes dive and tumble in a frolicsome manner ; 
crows and daws swagger in their walk; woodpeckers fly 
in an undulating manner, 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 sup- 
port 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 Gal/ine 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 burdens 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 love : 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 green- 
