The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1896-04-11
SEEKING A WARM BOOST.
Manner Of Flight and the Speed Made BY
MIGRATORY Birds,

Manner OF Flight and the Speed Made by
Migratory Birds.
Nearly all the native American summer
birds make migratory journeys southward
at the approach Of winter. A few Of the
varieties, such as the swallow family, leave
as early as the latter part OF August. As
soon a. the young birds are able to leave
the nest, much time is spent on the wing
by those birds that have the fall journey to
make, and when the breeding time is well
over they bunch into troops, having q holi-
Gay time feasting on the new crop OF seeds
and enjoying the fine weather. Children
all grown up, no household cares, the young
rejoicing in the use of their developing pin
Ions, they frisk and futter, scour the sur
rounding country, but no one sees them
leave.
Singularly enough, the warblers make
these journeys in the night. That noisy
and now unwelcome and voracious pet, the
English sparrow, is not migratory, SO far
as autumn journeys pertain to immigration.
They were imported to this, a strange cli-
mate to them, and have not learned to leave
with the approach of winter. Whether or
not they are an insectivorous bird in their
native isle, they certainly could not be 9th
erwise than granivorous here in the winter.
They are hardy, pugnaclous and aggressive
w Il typifying the peculiar character OF
the Briton.
\ puzzle to the scientist is to solve the
problem of where the energy can come from
+, sustain the expenditure of force involved
In many occasions Of bird flight. That n
di,ninutive bit Of stomach, charged with
few seeds as fuel, should generate force to
cleave the air, continuously bearing the
body forward at rapid rate for hours aud
sometimes days. seems incredible. No land
or water locomotiou can compete with 1t.
A goose, swan or duck may start from Lab
railor, and sooner than an express tr,in
could do the distance many reach the ever
glades Of Florida. And this Is probably
done on less than the equivalent of half a
peck of corn. We understand the physics
of their motion, we can grasp both the
mathematics and the mechanics involved
In the wing movement, but how this neces
sary energy is conserved is matter that
simply confronts our researches with def
ance.
| Ono versed in ornithology should know
the Kind of bird In 1t flight and walk, as
well as II in hand. Each family of birds
has wing stroke peculiar to its class.
Buzzards and the familiar chicken Law Is
fly in circles with the wings outstretcLed
and still much Df the time. The CROW IT
fects peculiar swagser in its walk. A
| quail and pheasant cannot sustain n llng
flight. Owls have u light bounding move
ment, as IL much lighter than the air
Nearly all small birds fiy by jerks, and OF
course rise and fall, and these also hoI
when on the ground. Woodpeckers oper
and close their wings when they fly, the
line being u series Of rising and falling
curves. Larks walk The killdeer is .
runner, and when not ON the nest is neyel
at rest. The humming bird has wins
stroke almost AS rapid as that Of some In
sects. but this cannot be much prolonged
The grain and grass eaters are the specifies
and sustain the longest flights. Birds o
prey all have wide base Of brain, larg
combativeness and dostrrctiveness, an,
very few are the kinds that deserve de
Observation-Disclosures Dispatch.