PETTIGREW ON THE MECHANISM OF FLIGHT. 



259 



(Diagram 19 a b), the other with the long axis of the wings 



Between these t\v 



extremes 



y variety of sailing and gliding motion which is possible in th 



Diagram 19. Albatros 





d 



compass when set upon gimbals may he performed; so that a skimming or sailing bird 



may be said to possess perfect 



ommand over itself and 



the element in which it 



moves. 

 Captain Hutton, to whose spirited narrative I have already had occa ion to allude 



I have sometimes 



makes the following remarkable statement regarding the Albatros 



watched narrowly one of these birds sailing and wheeling about in all directions for moi 



and ha\ 



than an hour, without seeing the slightest movement of the 

 nessed anything to equal the ease and grace of this bird as he sweeps past, often within 

 a few yards, every part of his body perfectly motionless except the head and eye, wnicli 

 turn slowly and seem to take notice of everythin 



<c 



Tranquil its spirit seem'd and floated slow ; 

 Even in its very motion there was rest " f 



As an antithesis to the apparently lifeless wings of the Albatros the ceas less 



Hummingbird might be adduced. In those delicate and exau .toK 

 the winss. according to Mr. Gould, move so rapidly when the bud 



of those of the Hnmming-bird might be adduced. In those delicate and exquisitely 



beautiful birds, tuc wim^s, «v;^ui^- & ~~ — - , , , 



poised before an object that it is impossible for the eye to follow each stroke, and a Iwy 



cle of indistinctness 



each 



side of the bird is all that is perceptible 



Hummingbird flies in a horizontal direction, it occasionally proceeds with such velocity 



The Coot, Diver, Duck, and Goose fly with great 



uie regular ana irregular m ^g^.—Uie \jooi, > 



ularity in nearly a straight line and with immense speed; they ne^ e Ann J , 



' The Woodpecker, Magpie, Fieldidie ami ^pairow 



altogether to elude observation 



The regular and irregular in Fhgl 



res- 



being too small for this purpose 



Th.se, as is well known 



supply examples of what may be termed ^gff^g^ strokc s and then desist 

 fly in curves of greater or less magnitude, by gi\ nig a ie* 



* «c 



On some of the Birds inhabiting the Southern Ocean, 



'» ( 



Ibis,' 2nd series, vol. i. 1865. 



t Professor Wilson's Sonnet, " A Cloud," *C. 



