. Birds in flight . the young to fly. But some birds, at least, do, indeed^ receive instructionwhen on the wing. And in such cases, it will be noticed, theirfood can only be captured by dexterous movements in fullflight. For a day or two, for example, young swallows simplypractice flight, to exercise and strengthen their wings. Theyare fed by their parents when at rest. The next step comes 123 when they are fed on the wing, taking their food as theyhover on trembling pinions from their parents beak. In alittle while the food is dropped as the parent passes, and theyoungsters are made to catch
. Birds in flight . the young to fly. But some birds, at least, do, indeed^ receive instructionwhen on the wing. And in such cases, it will be noticed, theirfood can only be captured by dexterous movements in fullflight. For a day or two, for example, young swallows simplypractice flight, to exercise and strengthen their wings. Theyare fed by their parents when at rest. The next step comes 123 when they are fed on the wing, taking their food as theyhover on trembling pinions from their parents beak. In alittle while the food is dropped as the parent passes, and theyoungsters are made to catch it as it falls. From thence,onwards, they have to do their own hunting. The clumsyones must die. Eagles and hawks, in hke manner, teachtheir young to capture swiftly moving prey by droppingfood to them in mid-air. If one fails to catch it the parentswoops down and seizes the hard-won meal before it reachesthe ground ; then mounting aloft with it, drops it once more,till, at last the required dexterity is gained. 124. 125 CHAPTER IX Flightless Birds And first, I praise the nobler traitsOf birds preceding Noah,The giant clan, whose meat was Man,Dinomis, Apteryx, Moa. COURTHOPE. The steamer duck—The owl parrot—^The flightless greeb of Titicaca—Thedodo and solitaire—^The ostrich tribe—^The penguins wings. THE poet who penned the above lines thought more ofrhymes than of reasons—^as Poets so often do. Whatwere their nobler traits ? He omits to mention of them were ever carnivorous : and the Apteryx couldby no stretch of the imagination be called a giant. Theone outstanding feature which does distinguish these birdshe fails entirely to appreciate—^and this is their flightlesscondition. A flightless bird is an anomaly. Yet there are some whoprofess to believe that this state affords us an insight into theearly stages of the Evolution of the win^. As a matter offact it demonstrates the exact opposite—dts degeneration. How is it that birds ever came to such a p
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1922
