. Bird watching . quick little beats, or,when not flapped, are held out very straightly andrigidly. When thus extended, they are on a levelwith or, perhaps, a little below the line of the back,and from this, in beating, they only deviate down-wards, and do not rise above it, or very triflingly so,giving them a very flat appearance. A curious curveis to be remarked in the anterior part of the spreadwing, at first backwards towards the tail, and thenagain forwards towards the head. All the primaryquills seem to partake of this shape, and they are alsovery noticeably disjoined one from another, s
. Bird watching . quick little beats, or,when not flapped, are held out very straightly andrigidly. When thus extended, they are on a levelwith or, perhaps, a little below the line of the back,and from this, in beating, they only deviate down-wards, and do not rise above it, or very triflingly so,giving them a very flat appearance. A curious curveis to be remarked in the anterior part of the spreadwing, at first backwards towards the tail, and thenagain forwards towards the head. All the primaryquills seem to partake of this shape, and they are alsovery noticeably disjoined one from another, so thatthe interspace, even whilst the wing is beaten, looksalmost as wide as the quill—by which I mean the RAVENS, CURLEWS, AND EIDER-DUCKS 135 whole feather—itself. I tried to imagine the effectof a number of these sombre, quickly-beating pinionswith the short eager croak, having something of abellowing tone in it (the croaking raven dothbellow for revenge ) over the wide-extended carnage ■J/, MT^^.^-f\^y-. Raven: The Game of Reversi of an ancient battlefield, and I thought I could doit pretty well—in spite of the difficulty, in the presentday, of conjuring up such scenes. But, though the ordinary flight of ravens be as Ihave described, it does not at all follow that theymay not sometimes soar or sail for long distancesthrough the air, or descend through it at great speed,and with all sorts of whirring and whizzing evolutions. 136 BIRD WATCHING For all these things do the rooks, and yet their ordinaryflight is of a heavy and plodding character. One verypeculiar antic, or trick i the air, the raven certainlyhas. Whilst flapping steadily along with regular,though quick beat of the wings, it closes these all atonce, quite tightly, as though it were on the ground,and immediately rolls over to one side or the the roll is complete, so that the bird comesright round again into its former position, or else,having got only so far as to be back downwards, itrolls ba
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1901
