ORDER ACCIPITRES. 107 



pose the second tier, lie the coverts, of different sizes and 

 shapes, in an imbricated manner, each feather taking a curve 

 adapted to the part of the body it covers, thus forming a sort 

 of upper-garment, which, with the under one, is admirably 

 calculated to preserve the heat of the body within, and to keep 

 out the wet and cold from without, effectually protecting the 

 animal from the various temperatures it must rapidly expe- 

 rience in passing through the air. 



Thus conformed, and provided with this wonderful apparatus 

 of wings and covering, the bird does not hesitate to shoot into 

 the region of tempests, and proceed to most prodigious dis- 

 tances. Nothing is more wonderful to the contemplation of 

 the natural philosopher, than this power of flight. Its mecha- 

 nism is combined with such astonishing skill, and rests upon 

 such powerful resources, that no machine, invented by the most 

 able mechanician, has, as yet, been found capable of imparting 

 such a faculty to man. All who, without the aid of a balloon, 

 (which is not flying, but a sort of sailing,) have attempted to 

 elevate themselves into the air, have shared the fate of Icarus. 



We shall enrich our pages with a few of the reflections of 

 the illustrious Buffon on this subject. " To give some idea 

 of the duration and continuity of motion in birds, and likewise 

 of the proportion of time and space which their courses occupy, 

 we shall compare their swiftness with that of quadrupeds in 

 their greatest progressions, whether natural or forced. The 

 stag, the rein-deer, and the elk can go through forty leagues in 

 a single day. The rein-deer, harnassed to a sledge, can make 

 thirty, and continue this many days in succession. The camel 

 can make three hundred leagues in eight days. The horse, 

 educated for the race, and chosen from amono; the lightest and 

 most vigorous, can perform a league in six or seven minutes ; 

 but his speed soon relaxes, and he would be incapable of sup- 

 porting a longer career, with the spirit and celerity with which 

 he commenced. We have cited the example of an English- 

 man who went seventy-two leagues in eleven hours and thirty- 



