( 68 I 



CHAPTER V. 



Flight. Muscular Power of Wings. Peculiarity of, indifferent Birds. 

 Adapted to various Habits. Rapidity of Motion and Rate of, 

 how calculated. Long Continuance of Flight accounted for. 

 Mignition, causes of. Tendency of most Birds to wander at parti- 

 cular times. Why seldom seen in the act of migrating. Instinc- 

 tive power of finding their way. 



HAVING described the light and airy framework of birds in- 

 tended to pass more or less of their time in the.air ; and having 

 shown how beautifully, in every particular, an all-wise Creatoi 

 has fitted them for such a life, we are naturally led to follow 

 them in their flight, and see how they are still further prepared 

 to turn their lightness of form to the greatest advantage ; and, 

 in pursuing this inquiry, the more shall we be constrained to 

 acknowledge, that " wondrous are the works of God, and that 

 in wisdom He hath made them all, giving unto the Stork in 

 the heaven to know her appointed time, and the Turtle, and 

 the Crane, and the Swallow, to observe the seasons for their 

 coming." No human ingenuity or skill could ever have 

 devised so perfect an instrument as a bird's wing for its in- 

 tended purpose ; so light, and yet so powerful ; so spacious 

 when spread out, and yet so compact, and gathered into so 

 small a compass when not wanted. 



We may form some idea of the extraordinary strength of a 

 bird from knowing that the great muscle, which chiefly regu- 

 lates the movements of its wing, weighs more than all the 

 other muscles of its body put together, constituting not less 

 than one-sixth part of the weight of the whole body ; whereas, 

 those of the human body are not one-hundredth part as large 

 in proportion. 



