Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1878-09-06

You will find, if you carefully examine a
birds wing, that all the bones and muscles
are placed along the front edge, which is thus
made very stiff and strong. The quill feath-
trs are fastened in such a way that they point
backward, so that the hind edge of the wing
is not stiff like the front edge, but is flexible
and bends at the least touch. As the air is
not solid, but a gas, it has tendency to
slide out from under the wing when this is
driven downward, and, of course, it will do
this at the point where it can escape most ca
SLY. Since the front edge of the wing Is stiff
and strong, it retains its hollow shape, and
prevents the air from sliding out in this di-
rection, but the pressure of the air is enough
to bend up the thin, flexible ends of the feath-
ers at the hinder border of the wing, SO the
air makes its escape there, and slides out
backward and upward. The weight OF the
bird is all the time pulling it down toward the
earth SO, at the same time that the air slides
out upward and backward past the bent edge
of the wing, the wing itself, and with 1t the
bird slides forward and downward off from
the confined air. 1t is really its weight which
causes it to do this, so that the statement that
a bird flies by its own weight is strictly true.
This is true, also, of insects and bats. They
all have wings with stiff front edges, and tieX-
ible hind edges which bend and allow the air
to pass out, so that flying is nothing but slid
u
Tapping its wings, and it flies by falling back
toward the earth and sliding forward at the
same time. At the end of each stroke of its
wings it has raised itself enough to make up
for the distance it has fallen since the last
stroke, and accordingly it stays at the same
height and moves forward in a seemingly
straight line. But if you watch the flight of
those birds which flap their wings slowly
such as the woodpecker, you can see them
rise and fall, and will have no trouble in see
ing that their path is not really straight line,
but is made up of curves; although most
birds flap their wings SO rapidly that they
have no time to fall through a space great
enough to be seen. Birds also make use of
the wind to aid them in flight, and by hold
ing their wings inclined like kite, so that
the wind shall slide out under them, they can
sail great distances without Tapping their
wings at all. They are supported, as paper
kite is, by the wind, which is continually
pushing against their wings, and sliding out
backward and downward, thus lifting or hold
ing up the bird, and at the same time driving
it forward. The birds are not compelled to
face the wind while they are sailing, but by
changing the position of the wings a little
they can go in whatever direction they wish,
much as a boy changes his direction IN skat-
ing by leaning a little to one side or the 9th
err Some birds are very skillful at this kind
of sailing, and can even remain stationary in
the air for some minutes when there is
strong wind and they do this without flap
ping their wings at all. 1t is a difficult thing
to do, and no birds except the most skillful
flyers can manage it. Some hawks can do it,
and gulls and terms may often be seen prac-
ticing it when a gale of wind is blowing, and
they seem to take great delight in their pow
er of flight st Nicholas.