1909.
Oct. 6 [October 6, 1909]
(No 2)
very like so many stuffed birds suspended by invisible 
wires. At this short distance, in clear sunlight, I watched
them for minutes at a time without detecting the smallest
movement of the wings save for an occasional slight readjustment
in their position or "set" while there were, as I have said,
scarce any deflection from the horizontal plane of flight.
Yet all the while the beautiful birds were moving 
steadily onward at a speed of fully sixteen miles
for hours against a strong wind! How did they
accomplish this feat. It seemed to me, & to many of
the other passengers who watched it with me, not only
wonderful but absolutely mysterious. We all agreed that
they did not acquire impetus by their occasional flapping
nor by alternating upward & downward sweeps. Quite
obviously they relied for the most part on means
of propulsion other than these and quite beyond our
ken. The only solution I could think of was that
the wind served them largely if not wholly in the
same way that it serves a vessel close-handed. Yet
no vessel could be so close to it and progress at all
for it came from a direction only a point or two to
the southward of our & their course. I observed, however,
that they rarely headed directly into it for more than
a minute or two & that whenever they did so they
seemed to lose headway.
Strange to say they also appeared to lose headway whenever they
flapped their wings. This impression was shared by all the
passengers who watched them with me
 I should like to know if they
can thus, keep up with a swift steamer when there 
is no wind! If they can the mystery would seem to 
insoluble. I should add that they not only kept pace
with us with ease but that on many occasions a 
bird that had dropped behind would overtake the
steamer & pass a number of the companions without flapping