BIRDS AND THE GIFT OF FLIGHT.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]
Sin,—In confirmation of your correspondent "E. T." in last week's Spectator, I would point out that many birds other than the skylark and rook will fly for pleasure and amuse- ment. The aerial evolutions of flocks of starlings,—a marvel of precision in collective movement, hundreds of birds, close together, turning and wheeling with one impulse, and never a collision ; the daily excursions of domestic pigeons and of teal and wild duck in wide circles round and round their nesting haunts ; the beautiful upward gyrations of storks, vultures, peregrines, and most of the raptores—are instances. Seagulls and all the swallow tribe spend most of the day on the wing, far beyond the efforts necessary to win their living, and apparently for the joy of the exercise. Wydah birds will hover in one spot for a long time, for no other discernible purpose than to show off their plumage. The classical defini- tion of pleasure being the unhindered exercise of our natural faculties is upheld by most animals, domestic as well as wild. By the way, skylarks, as is well known, are not the only birds that sing on the wing : woodlarks and pipits usually do, and other kinds occasionally.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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