CHAPTER Til. 
The Sizes and Shapes of Wings and their 
relation to Flight. 
the fowls of heaven have wings, 
And blasts of heaven will aid their flight : 
Chains tie us down by land and sea.—Wordsworth. 
The evasiveness of flight—The size of the wing in relation to that of the body— 
Noisy flight—‘‘ Muffled ’’ flight—The swoop of the sparrow-hawk—The “‘ flighting ”’ 
of ducks—The autumn gatherings of starlings and swallows—“' Soaring ’’ flights of 
storks and vultures—The wonderful “ sailing '’ feats of the albatross—The “ soaring ”’ 
of the skylark—The “ plunging ’’ flight of the gannet, tern, and kingfisher. 
\ \ THO needs to be told that birds fly? So common-place 
has this fact become that the many, and varied forms 
of wings, and the peculiarities of flight which are associated 
with these differences, are rarely perceived. Even sculptors, 
and artists show a hopeless unfamiliarity with the shapes of 
wings, and their meanings, at any rate, as a general rule. Look 
at their attempts to display birds in flight, or in the fanciful use 
of wings which convention has ascribed to angels. For the most 
part these superbly beautiful appendages are atrociously 
rendered. 
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