. The British bird book . this stage the body would have beenless bird-like than that of Archaeopteryx, and have been stillmore like that of the ancestral reptilian stock from which thebirds have sprung. That feathers are, so to speak, glorifiedreptilian scales cannot be certainly demonstrated, but menof Science are generally agreed that this was their origin. By the time that Archaeopteryx had come into being,true flight had been arrived at, though probably it could nothave been long sustained. As these primitive birds increasedin numbers, and spread from the woodlands to the opencountry, lif
. The British bird book . this stage the body would have beenless bird-like than that of Archaeopteryx, and have been stillmore like that of the ancestral reptilian stock from which thebirds have sprung. That feathers are, so to speak, glorifiedreptilian scales cannot be certainly demonstrated, but menof Science are generally agreed that this was their origin. By the time that Archaeopteryx had come into being,true flight had been arrived at, though probably it could nothave been long sustained. As these primitive birds increasedin numbers, and spread from the woodlands to the opencountry, life became more strenuous. New enemies had tobe evaded, longer journeys had to be made for food. Onlythe very best performers on the wing could survive, and thus,in each generation, the failures would be speedily weededout, while competition among the survivors would raise thestandard. We see thd result of this struggle for existence in the many and varied types of wings, and of flight, whichare presented in this book. 154. Arch^ 155 CHAPTER III The Sizes and Shapes of Wings andtheir relation to Flight ... the fowls of heaven have wings,And blasts of heaven wiU aid their flight: Chains tie us down by land and sea. Wordsworth. The evasiveness of flight—^The size of the wing in relation to that of the body—Noisy flight—Muffled flight—The swoop of the sparrow-hawk—The flight-ing of ducks—The autumn gatherings of starlings and swallows—Soaring flights of storks and vultures—The wonderful sailing feats of the albatross—The soaring of the skylark—^The plunging flight of the gannet, tern, andkingfisher. WHO needs to be told that birds fly ? So common-place hcis this fact become that the many and variedforms of wings, and the peculiarities of flight which areassociated with these differences, are rarely perceived. Evensculptors and artists show a hopeless unfamiharity with theshapes of wings, and their meanings, at any rate, as a generalrule. Loo
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1921
