. The bird, its form and function . Fig. 262.—Wing of living Golden Pheasant; rounded and curved for short, sudden flight. while the front edge is rather straight and firm, the hinderrim of the feathers is soft and yielding; thus a downwardstroke both raises the bird or holds it sustained at theheight already reached and urges it in a forward we push our hollowed palms backward and pro-pel ourselves through the denser medium of manner of flight varies greatly in different birds 328 The Bird and is often so characteristic that when too far off to dis-tinguish the c
. The bird, its form and function . Fig. 262.—Wing of living Golden Pheasant; rounded and curved for short, sudden flight. while the front edge is rather straight and firm, the hinderrim of the feathers is soft and yielding; thus a downwardstroke both raises the bird or holds it sustained at theheight already reached and urges it in a forward we push our hollowed palms backward and pro-pel ourselves through the denser medium of manner of flight varies greatly in different birds 328 The Bird and is often so characteristic that when too far off to dis-tinguish the colour of its plumage, or for its notes toreach our ears, the bird may be recognized by the undu-lations or the directness of its flight. No one who hasever visited the tropics can have failed to admire the. Fig. 263.—Wing of living Herring-gull; long and narrow for slow,continuous flight. soaring vultures,—spots of black swinging across theheavens or swooping low in grand arcs over the and their kindred fly steadily with continuous wing-beats, which, however, are much less rapid than in theflight of a duck or a parrot. Many sparrows have anabrupt jerking motion, hitching themselves over trees Wings 329 and bushes; while goldfinches and woodpeckers swingpast in long undulations, a loop and a catch, a loop anda catch,—with wings wide extended, then quickly have a remarkably insect-like flight; therapid reflex whirr of the wings holding them perfectlystill, poised m mid-air. When ornithologists think that the}^ have formed acorrect theory of flight and that, given such and suchconditions, certain results must follow, such a bird as theCrested Screamer soars into their mental atmosphere andupsets every calculation. Such a bulky and short-wingedbird, by a
Size: 1670px × 1495px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookpublishernewyo, bookyear1906
