StNicholas [serial] . A BIRD RED-TAILED HAWK IN FLIGHT. As seen from below and rear. Note the great expanse of wings and tail for resisting, that is, floating on, the air, as seen :n the central figure ;then in the figure at the left, the thin, air-cutting edge of a bird as seen from front or rear. HOW A BIRD FLIES Though there are many internal peculiarities, asof lungs and of bones, by which birds are adaptedto flight, they are neither the main things nor themost interesting things to be considered when weinquire into the how and the why of the flight ofbirds. In observing the riving bird, h
StNicholas [serial] . A BIRD RED-TAILED HAWK IN FLIGHT. As seen from below and rear. Note the great expanse of wings and tail for resisting, that is, floating on, the air, as seen :n the central figure ;then in the figure at the left, the thin, air-cutting edge of a bird as seen from front or rear. HOW A BIRD FLIES Though there are many internal peculiarities, asof lungs and of bones, by which birds are adaptedto flight, they are neither the main things nor themost interesting things to be considered when weinquire into the how and the why of the flight ofbirds. In observing the riving bird, how far does PRIMARY COVERTS. TERTWS FIG. I. A SPARROW S WING SHOWING THE DIFFERENTSETS OF FEATHERS. flight explain itself? In other words, what canlive birds teach us human beings of flight? The general form of the bird is naturally thefirst thing of which we think. We easily noticethat in wings and tail it is kite-like; in body andhead, bullet-like. So important are these simplediscoveries that this essay might with some rea-son be ended here. Imagine a kite with a rudderand having an intelligent will of its own. Is itnot possible to think of it as moving about in theair with a degree of bird-like freedom? As for the bullet-like form of head and body,one can see by a glance at Fig. 2, especially d,these appear to be practically a point, which wemay call the point of will. The head is indeedthe will-point in the bird-kite. In flight it bearsoutwardly the same relation to the birds bodythat the prow of a boat does to its hull; it cleavesthe air as the boats prow does the water. Let us look at some apparent excepti
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookidstnicholasse, bookyear1873
