fastened a small piece of paper to the tip of a crows wing, and as 
the bird flew in front of a perfectly black screen he took a 
photograph of this moving speck of white, while, of course, no 
image of the crow appeared on the plate. The resultant 
> as one would make 
picture gave a series of “ figure of 8 loops’ 
this figure with a pen, contriving to make the lower loop very small, 
and the upper loop very large. But as the wing-beat increased 
in speed the lower loop gradually faded out. 
These movements of the wing, however, are descriptive 
rather of what takes place during very vigorous flight, as when the 
bird is getting up “‘ steam.” When he is well under way there is 
no need for these long and very tiring strokes, except in the case 
of birds like the pheasant or the duck. A gull, when in full career 
does not, apparently, raise the wings very high, nor depresses them 
very low, nor does it flex the wings at the wrist-joints. 
Stopping and turning movements are generally extremely 
difficult to follow, because they are performed so quickly. They 
can be seen fairly easily in the case of some of the larger birds. 
Ducks, as is well shown in one of our coloured Plates, draw the head 
backwards, tilt the body upward, thrust the feet forward, and 
spread the tail, at the same time turning it forwards. Gulls 
and pigeons too may be watched with profit. 
In turning, the body is tilted sideways, so that the tip of one 
wing points skywards, the other earthwards, as in the case of the 
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