Some birds have
movements peculiar to the season of love: thus ring-doves, 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-finch in particular exhibits such languishing
and faltering gestures as to appear like a wounded and dying bird;
the king-fisher darts along like an arrow; fern-owls, or goat-
suckers, glance in the dusk over the tops of trees like a meteor;
starlings as it were swim along, while missal-thrushes use a wild
and desultory flight; swallows sweep over the surface of the ground
and water, and distinguish themselves by rapid turns and quick
evolutions; swifts dash round in circles; and the bank-martin
moves with frequent vacillations like a butterfly. Most of the small
birds fly by jerks, rising and falling as they advance. Most small
birds hop; but wagtails and larks walk, moving their legs
alternately. Skylarks rise and fall perpendicularly as they sing:
woodlarks hang poised in the air; and titlarks rise and fall in large
cubes, singing in their descent.
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