85 



CHAPTER V. 



FLIGHT. MUSCULAR POWER OF WINGS PECULIARITY OF, IN 



DIFFERENT BIRDS. ADAPTED TO VARIOUS HABITS. RAPIDITY 



OF MOTION AND RATE OF, HOW CALCULATED. LONG CONTINU- 

 ANCE OF FLIGHT. ACCOUNTED FOR. MIGRATION, CAUSES OF. 



TENDENCY OF MOST BIRDS TO WANDER AT PARTICULAR TIMES. 



WHY SELDOM SEEN IN THE ACT OF MIGRATING. INSTINCTIVE 



POWER OF FINDING THEIR WAY. 



HAVING described the light and airy frame-work 

 of birds, intended to pass more or less of their time 

 in the air; and having shown ho w beautifully, in every 

 particular, an all-wise Creator has fitted them for 

 such a life, we are naturally led to follow them in 

 their flight, and see how they are still further pre- 

 pared to turn their lightness of form to the greatest 

 advantage; and, in pursuing this inquiry, the more 

 shall we be constrained to acknowledge, that " won- 

 drous 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 instru- 

 ment as a bird's wing, for its intended 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 regulates the movements of its 



