their flight, sometimes in a compact mass, sometimes in a long line (Par. xviii. 73)—
"Come augelli surti di riviera,
Quasi congratulando a lor pastura,
Fanno di si or tonda or lunga schiera";
or (Purg. xxiv. 64), like the birds that winter on the Nile, sometimes make of themselves a compact array, sometimes fly in a long line. Milton speaks of both in the same passage. He says:—
"Part loosely wing the region, part more wise,
In common ranged in figure wedge their way,
Intelligent of seasons; and set forth
Their aery caravan, high over seas
Flying, and over lands, with mutual wing
Easing their flight; so steers the prudent Crane
Her annual voyage."
So has Dante seen them—seen the great flocks part, and wheel, some north, some south (Purg. xxvi. 43)—seen them, and heard their melancholy note, which is so well adapted to describe the cry of the lost souls (Inf. v. 48) —
"Come i gru van cantando lor lai."
After the Cranes, Dante has most to say of the Pigeons. He has a wonderfully accurate picture of a flock of them coming down, and setting to work in a business-like way (Purg. ii. 125: "senza mostrar l'usato orgoglio"), pecking at blades of grass, first on one side and then on another, until a sudden scare comes, and they rise en masse and fly away. Or, again, what a perfect picture one has of the Rock-Pigeon sweeping down to its nest with firm expanded wings (Inf. v. 82)—
"Quali colombe dal disio chiamate,
Con l'ali aperte e ferine al dolce nido,
Volan per l'aer dal voler portate."
So, too (Par. xxv. 19), where a Dove settles by its mate, and walks round it cooing; the rhythm of the line helps one to imagine the whole scene—
"L'uno e l'altro pande,
Girando e mormorando l'affezione,"
as "les tourterelles roucoulaient" of La Fontaine's fables lets
