CONTENTS 



CHAPTER PAGE 



I. Concerning Wings ... ... ... i 



Wtiat a wing is — The quill leathers and their function — 

 The skeleton of the wing — The muscles of the wing — ^The 

 great air-chambers of the body — The bat's wing — ^The 

 wing of flying dragons — ^The wings of dragon-flies and 

 beetles. 



II. The First Bird ... ... ... ,„ 15 



The ancestors of birds — ^The first known bird and its many 

 remarkable features — ^The gradual evolution of the birds of 

 to-day. 



III. The Sizes and Shapes of Wings and their 



relation to Flight ... ... ... 21 



The evasiveness of flight — ^The size of the wing in relation 

 to that of the body— Noisy flight—" Muffled " flight — 

 The swoop of the sparrow-hawk — The "flighting" of 

 ducks — ^The autumn gatherings of starlings and swallows — 

 " Soaring " flights of storks and vultures — ^The wonderful 

 " sailing " feats of the albatross — ^The "soaring " of the 

 skylark — ^The " plunging " flight of the gannet, tern, and 

 kingfisher. 



IV. Modes of Flight ... ... ... 35 



The movements of the wing in flight — ^Marey's experi- 

 ments — Stopping and turning movements — Alighting — 

 " Taking ofi " — 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 night — The height at which 

 birds fly — Flight with burdens — Experiments on the sizes 

 of the wing in relation to flight — Flight in " troops." 



