. Birds in flight . the beak to the eye, and beyond, spreading as it goes. Arelatively large beak, and strikingly short tail, are featuresas conspicuous as is the coloration. Its flight is slow andundulating. Another little bird which, during the winter, associateswith the tit-mice is the tree-creeper. It is never seen onthe wing, save when it is flitting from one tree to another,and then its course is obliquely downwards—from the upperbranches of one tree to the base of another. This it proceedsto ascend immediately on alighting, by jerky leaps. Itscoloration is soberness itself—mottled brown
. Birds in flight . the beak to the eye, and beyond, spreading as it goes. Arelatively large beak, and strikingly short tail, are featuresas conspicuous as is the coloration. Its flight is slow andundulating. Another little bird which, during the winter, associateswith the tit-mice is the tree-creeper. It is never seen onthe wing, save when it is flitting from one tree to another,and then its course is obliquely downwards—from the upperbranches of one tree to the base of another. This it proceedsto ascend immediately on alighting, by jerky leaps. Itscoloration is soberness itself—mottled brown above andsilvery white below. The tail, it is to be noted, is formed ofstiff, pointed feathers, like those of the woodpecker, and, asin that bird, is used in climbing. There is scarcely a garden—save in such as are within thearea of a big town—^which, during the summer, is not hauntedby a httle grey and white bird, with a most characteristicflight—a sudden sally into the air to seize some insect, some- 86. times even white butterflies, and an instant return to thesame perch. This is the spotted flycatcher. In Wales,Devonshire, Cumberland, and Westmorland, one may befairly sure of meeting with the pied-flycatcher. He is, so tospeak, a black and white edition of his relative, the spottedflycatcher—^but the black areas in the female are representedby brown. There are, however, notable differences in themethod of hunting, in the two species; for the pied-flycatcherrarely returns to the same perch after his upward flight intothe air, and he often feeds on the ground. In the straggling hedgerows of the wooded districts ofsouth and central England, and in Wales, one may oftencome across the red-backed shrike ; a very handsome bird,with pointed wings, long tail, and low swooping flights. Hisred back will alone distinguish him. No other British birdwears such a mantle. And this is set off by a grey crownand nape, and black patches on the sides of the head. Thetopmost twig o
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1922
