19G ' PRACTICAL EXPERIMENTS IN SOARING. 



We notice that constaut changes are going on in the force of the 

 wind, but the falcon does not alter his position by a single inch, although 

 having already begun devouring his prey, he can give but divided 

 attention to his flight. Now he bends his head downward and back- 

 ward, so that the Avorld below must appear to him inverted, and evi- 

 dently enjoys eating the insect as his talons leisurely pluck it to pieces. 

 In the position in mid-air (which is niaiutained even during this employ- 

 ment) he appears like an automaton rooted in the wind. Just the 

 faintest balancing motion, apparently serving to compensate for the 

 irregularities of the wind, is ])erceptib]e in the extreme points of his 

 wings, which are slightly inclined backwards. 



This poise of the falcon in mid-air, which appears to us as a defiance 

 to the hvw of gravity, may be considered not only the most remarkable, 

 but also the most instructive example of flight. 



In observing the majestic, circular soaring of otlier aerial travellers, 

 one can readily believe that these skillful wing artists understand how 

 to protit by the jieriodic currents of the air, and in describing spirals 

 instinctively transform the force of the opposing current of air into 

 lifting or suspensive power; but when the bird, without the least move 

 ment of his wings, remains stationary in one point of the sky, we are 

 led to infer the existence of a peculiar form of surface which may be 

 held suspended by the application of a uniforndy moving wind. 



While the existence of this possibility may be demonstrated by 

 elementary exi^eriments, this does not discover the secret of soaring, 

 and though nature conclusively demonstrates that it can not be the 

 want of power that prevents our flying, that knowledge alone does not 

 provide us with wings. Furthermore, while nature points out how it 

 is done, that does not necessarily imply that there may not be found 

 other ways or means of doing it. However we may theorize on the 

 subject, without a practical application of the theory, things will 

 remain unchanged and our flight will only be in imagination or in 

 dreams. 



My experiments, then, should form th<^ transition, the first step from 

 theory to practice. Like others, I too have, in the beginning, attempted 

 using machines with movable wings, but this does not ajiparently aid 

 in the development of an art of flight. The mark is too high and not 

 immediately attainable, and one's ambition should be fully satisfied by 

 withstanding the wind with wings of the size adapted to flying men. 

 Each flight demands a rising from the ground and a landing; the 

 former is as difficult as the latter is dangerous, and regardless of the 

 most ingeniously constructed apparatus, the art of both will have to 

 be acquired just as the child learns to stand and to walk. Anyone 

 desirous of exposing himself unnecessarily to danger and of ruining 

 in a few seconds the carefully constructed apparatus need onlj^ expose 

 his machine, to the wind without having familiarized himself with its 

 management, and he will soon know what it means to control an appa- 



