CHAPTER IV 
Modes of Flight 
‘The soaring lark is blest as proud 
When at Heaven’s gate she sings ; 
The roving bee proclaims aloud 
Her flight by vocal wings.” 
WORDSWORTH. 
The movements of the wing in flight—Marey’s experiments—Stopping and 
turning movements—Alighting—‘' Taking off ’—Hovering—The use of the tail 
in flight—The carriage of the neck in flight—And of the legs—The flight of 
petrels—The speed of flight—The height at which birds fly—Flight with burdens 
—Experiments on the sizes of the wing in relation to flight—Flight in ‘‘ troops.”’ 
HILE it is possible to show that certain kinds of flight 
are to be associated with such and such peculiarities 
of the skeleton, and the muscles attached thereto, there are 
many “ eccentricities’? which cannot be measured, and 
explained, in terms of mechanism. 
The very disconcerting, twisting, flight of the snipe is 
one of these. The sportsman knows it well: and he knows 
that the twisting, during which the bird turns the body half 
over—that is with, say, the left wing pointing directly down- 
wards, and the right wing directly upwards—is only the 
preliminary to getting fully on the way, and that, presently, 
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