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. rx). 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 11 are some 
photographs in which the wings have been caught 
