32 



THE FLIGHT OF BIRDS 



effectively. The following table brings out very 

 clearly the poverty of the long-legged and the web- 

 footed in point of tail. I give first the actual length 

 of tail, then the approximate weight of the bird. 

 In two cases I have had to take the weight from a 

 learned paper by two German ornithologists, and I 

 suspect that their hen Sparrow-Hawk was far from 

 plump. Lastly I have given the length of tail which 

 each of the birds has for one pound of its weight. 

 The results are very striking. Were I able to 

 give the area of the tails, they would be much 



* Jahresbericht der Schlesischen Gesellschaft, 1879. 



