200 



ANIMAL LOCOMOTION* 



the converse, and from side to side or laterally, it may be 

 represented as oscillating on one of two centres, as shown 

 at fig. 105; the one corresponding with the long axis of 

 the body (fig. 105, a &), the other with the long axis of the 

 wings {c cl). Between these two extremes every variety of 

 sailing and gliding motion which is possible in the mariner's 

 compass when set upon gimbals may be performed ; so that 

 a skimming or sailing bird may be said to possess perfect 

 command over itself and over the element in which it moves. 



Captain Hutton makes the following remarkable state- 

 ment regarding the albatross : — " I have sometimes watched 

 narrowly one of these birds sailing and wheeling about in all 

 directions for more than an hour, without seeing the slightest 

 movement of the wings, and have never witnessed 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, which turn slowly and 

 seem to take notice of everything." ^ 



As an antithesis to the apparently lifeless wings of the 



^ " On some of tlie Birds inhabiting tlie Southern Ocean. "—Ibis, 2d series, 

 vol. i. 1865. 

 2 Professor Wilson's Sonnet, " A Cloud," etc. 



C 



r 



\. 105. 



Tranquil its spirit seem'd and floated slow ; 

 Even in its very motion there was rest."^ 



