Dick. Birds.
M. Do all birds live in the air?
Lydia. No, mother; the ostrich is said never to fly, and it seems to me that many other birds, such as hens, partridges, quails, and others, rarely fly, and therefore cannot be said even to live in the air.
M. What birds live most in the air?
D. I should think the swallows, for they seem to me to be dodging about from morning to night. And, mother, I have heard Ben Halliard, the sailor, say that there is a sea-swallow that is always flying; he declares that the creature never lights and that he hatches his eggs under his wing!
M. The sea-swallow, or mother Cary’s chicken, is a bird that can remain on the wing for a long time; but like all other birds, it goes sometimes to the land. It builds its nest on the uninhabited islands of the sea; many of them may be seen in the unfrequented rocky islands near Florida.
L. Mother, it is said the birds of Paradise live always on the wing.
M. This is also an error; the sailors, who frequented the seas near the Asiatic islands, where these lovely birds are often seen on the wing, fancied them to be creatures of the air; and being always in the spicy breath of those charming regions, they called them birds of Paradise. But now, that we are better acquainted with the islands of the Pacific we know that the birds of Paradise live chiefly on the land, and sport, like others of the feathered race, amid the branches of the trees.
L. Well, mother, I think there are other creatures that live in the air, beside birds. I mean insects, such as butterflies, bees, wasps, and other little flying creatures.
M. You should rather say, my dear, that these animals live a part of the time in the air. It is with these insects, as with birds, that though we see them often on the wing, they really spend but a part of the time in flying. Let me now ask you to tell what animals live in the water?