650 



THE GREATEST FLYING CREATURE. 



New we wish for our especial purpose of comparing this bird with 

 other flying things, to know (a) the supporting area in square feet. {!>) 

 the weight, and (c) the (tower for (1) a flying machine of man's inven- 

 tion, which has actually flown for comparatively long distances, (2) 

 like farts for this the largest of nature's flying machines, and (3) for 

 some of our present birds. To recapitulate, we need for our special 

 purpose at least the following data for any Hying thing, namely. ( 1 ) the 

 supporting area in square feet, (2) the weight in pounds, and (3) the 

 horsepower which drives it through the air. 



It is evidently impossible to exactly recover all of these for the 

 Pterodactyl, and hard to definitely establish all three even in living 

 specimens, but we may assume in the case of the horsepower that it is 

 proportioned to theareaof the attachment of the muscles which moved 



Diagram of the Aerodrom 



the bird in flight, an assumption which is doubtless only approximately 

 true, but may serve our immediate purpose. With this understand- 

 ing I present, together with an instantaneous photograph of a steel 

 flying machine in actual Might (PI. II) (repeated here from a previous 

 publication), a diagram (Pis. Ill, IV) representing the above three 

 facts in the case of (1) the Hying machine, (2) the Pterodactyl (Ornitho- 

 stoma), (3) the condor, and (4) the buzzard, all soaring things, and (5) 

 the wild goose, (6) the pigeon, and (7) the humming bird, which last 

 three fly by moving their wings. 



This steel Hying machine shown in the instantaneous photograph 

 had a supporting area of 54 square feet, a weight of 30 pounds, devel- 

 oped U- horsepower, and repeatedly flew from one-half a mile to 

 three-quarters of a mile. These facts arc 1 represented in the diagram 

 by the three rectangular figures whose areas are proportional to these 

 values. Immediately after it comes nature's greatest flying machine. 



