CHAPTER V. 

 STEERING. 



A VARIETY OF METHODS GOOD STEERERS AND BAD. 



A Variety of Methods. 



A bird can steer when his tail is gone. A Rook, 

 when some accident has robbed him of this useful 

 rudder and balancer, can still make shift. He is 

 not like a ship left rudderless. It is evident, 

 therefore, that the tail is not the bird's sole steering 

 apparatus. If he wishes to steer to the left his 

 usual method is to fling himself on his left side, 

 the left wing pointing downward and the right 

 wing upward, the two being in line with one another, 

 while his head is pointed in the direction in which 

 he wishes to travel (see PL ix). Then he can no 

 longer progress along his former line of advance, 

 for the expanse of his wings will check him. He 

 travels, therefore, to the left, i.e. towards the point 

 towards which his head is directed. But how does 

 he effect the necessary change of balance ? There 

 is no doubt that he occasionally gives a harder stroke 

 with one wing than the other, a thing which the 

 camera sometimes detects, though it is difficult 

 for the eye to see it clearly. On Plate n are some 

 photographs in which the wings have been caught 



