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 in a
frolicsome 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 curves. All of this
genus use their tails, which incline downward, as a support while
they run up trees. Parrots, like all other hook-clawed birds, walk
awkwardly, and make use of their bill as a third foot, climbing and
ascending with ridiculous caution. All the gallinae 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
incumbered 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.
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