WILD BIRDS THROUGH THE YEAR 65 



glide with supreme ease ? Then is he like the 

 swimmer needing deep water to float in. 



I sat out in the garden near Tintagel each evening 

 and watched the herring gulls flying up from the 

 sea. Many were quite close to me, the light was 

 good for the first half hour of watching ; and I 

 believe Pettigrew and Marey were wrong about the 

 flexing of the bird's wing in the up-stroke. I did 

 not see a single gull fold its wing at all in 

 the upstroke. Deceptive as flight in its mechanism 

 is to the eye, I feel sure there could be no deception 

 here : the herring gull's wing is raised in the up- 

 stroke just as extended and unflexed as it is lowered 

 in the down-stroke. I watched this, and others 

 with me watched, and we agreed that the wing of 

 every gull in the upstroke was kept rigid. Perhaps 

 some other birds fold the wing in the up-stroke, but 

 I have not seen it. I should say that the mechanism 

 for folding has been so wrought that the bird, leaving 

 the air, may be able to lay back its wing on its body. 

 The 'fit of the wing against the body is faultless 

 the one looks as if moulded for the other. 



The gulls return to their nesting rock in those 

 long, smooth, glorious glides. They will glide a 

 quarter of a mile without a stroke, though now 

 and then I notice the tip of the wing, the eloquent 

 tip, make a slight move. Never lose sight of a 

 large bird's wing tip when you are watching flight. 



