. The bird, its form and function . as in the first attempts of a youngbird, almost no control is possessed over the directionor height of their flight. In fact, the condition is muchthe same as that of a man in an ordinary balloon, whois at the mercy of the wind and the sustaining power ofthe gas. Hudson gives the following interesting accountof this bird: It is an exceedingly rare thing to see thisbird rise except when compelled. I believe the powerof flight is used chiefly, if not exclusively, as a means ofescape from danger. The bird rises up when almost trod-den upon, rushing into the air
. The bird, its form and function . as in the first attempts of a youngbird, almost no control is possessed over the directionor height of their flight. In fact, the condition is muchthe same as that of a man in an ordinary balloon, whois at the mercy of the wind and the sustaining power ofthe gas. Hudson gives the following interesting accountof this bird: It is an exceedingly rare thing to see thisbird rise except when compelled. I believe the powerof flight is used chiefly, if not exclusively, as a means ofescape from danger. The bird rises up when almost trod-den upon, rushing into the air with a noise and violencethat fill one with astonishment. It continues to rise 334 The Bird at a decreasing angle for fifty or sixty yards, then gradu-ally nears the earth, till, when it has got to a distance oftwo or three hundred yards, the violent action of the wingceases, and the bird glides along close to the earth forsome distance, and either drops down or renews its suppose many birds fly in much the same way; only. Fig. 266.—South American Tinamou. this tinamou starts forward with such amazing energythat, until this is expended and the moment of glidingcomes, the flight is just as ungovernable to the bird asthe motion of a brakeless engine, rushing along at fullspeed, would be to the driver. The bird knows the dangerto which this peculiar character of its flight exposes it Wings 335 so well that it is careful to fly only to that side whereit sees a clear course It is sometimes, however, compelledto take wing suddenly, without considering the obstaclesin its path; it also often miscalculates the height of anobstacle, so that for tinamous to meet with accidentswhen flying is very common. In the course of a shortride of two miles, during which several birds sprang upbefore me, I have seen three of these tinamous dashthemselves to death against a fence close to the path,the height of which they had evidently misjudged. Ihave also seen a bird fly blindly against
Size: 1565px × 1596px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1906
