18 
OUR HOME BIRDS. 
limbs, and some their lives. And the reason of the 
failure may be easily ascertained. 
“ ‘ In the first place, the wings of birds are very 
much longer in proportion to their bodies than are 
the arms of men. This is seen even in short- winged 
birds, such as the partridge or the sparrow, while 
the wings of the frigate-bird or the albatross are so 
long that at a distance the bird appears to be all 
wings. Then, again, these enormous wings must re- 
quire corresponding muscles to work them ; so that 
even if we could make wings of proportionate size, 
and fix them on our arms, we should still be as much 
tied to the earth as before for want of the power to 
move them. 
“ ‘ Again, even if we had the requisite limbs and 
muscles, and had been furnished with a goodly array 
of feathers, our efforts at flight would be unavailing. 
We might possibly be able to descend from a height 
without injury, but we should not be able to ascend, 
and so we should lose one of the principal objects 
of flight ; while it would be perfectly impossible to 
transport ourselves through the air. The reason of 
our failure would lie principally in the structure of 
our skeleton, together with the comparative imper- 
fection of our organs of respiration/ ” 
Miss Harson stopped here to ask Malcolm if he 
remembered what she had already told him about 
