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CHAPTER 
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CONTENTS. 
Concerning Wings - ; ws 
What a wing is—The quill feathers and their function— 
The skeleton of the wing—The muscles of the wing— 
The great air-chambers of the body—The Bat’s wing 
—The wing of flying Dragons—The wings of Dragon-flies 
and beetles. 
II. The First Bird : ue : u 
Til. 
LV: 
The ancestors of birds—The first known bird and its 
many remarkable features—The gradual evolution of the 
birds of to-day. 
The Sizes and Shapes of Wings and 
their relation to Flight - - 
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. 
Modes of Flight - - - - 
The movements of the wing in flight—Marey’s experi- 
ments—Stopping and turning movements—Alighting— 
“Taking off —Hovering—The use of the tail in flight 
—The carriage of the neck in flight—And of the legs— 
The flight of petrels—The speed of flight—The height at 
which birds fly—Flight with burdens—Experiments on the 
sizes of the wing in relation to flight—Flight in “‘ troops.” 
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