326 



The Bird 



powers of flight. When perched on a branch, the}' can 

 evade the shot from a shot-gun. It is said that one will 

 sometimes ''chase another for three or fom' minutes, 

 doubling, turning, twisting, and shooting, now ]:)rushing 

 the grass, now risnig to a height of at least two or three 



Fig. 261.— Condor about to take flight. 



hundred feet, and all the movements so rapid that the 

 eye can scarcely follow them; and at the end of it would 

 go back to his own chosen weed-stalk, apparently without 

 a feather ruffled." 



Any attempt to explain the mechanics of the way of a 

 bird in the air would at most be imperfect in the present 



