take wing

He had poised himself upon the top of the hill like a bird about to take wing.

Are they afraid to see me, that they all take wing as soon as I appear?

Just as I reached the rocks, I saw a covey apparently about to take wing.

This letter, begun in Edinburgh, is to take wing from Abbotsford.

At the sound of that laugh Esther's fears seemed to take wing.

So she knew that, since the natives were non-alate, she was not to take wing on Earth.

The summer is fledged; he will take wing before we realise it.

Every moment I expected the flock to take wing, but they lingered.

This sky above us seems so high up, I feel as if I could take wing and fly!

When disturbed, they take wing, and hastily quit their abodes.