Fig. 107.—The Red-headed Pochard (Fuligula ferina, Linn.) in the act of dropping upon the water; the head and body being inclined upwards and forwards, the feet expanded, and the wings delivering vigorous short strokes in a downward and forward direction.—Original.
The Flight of Birds referable to Muscular Exertion and Weight.—The various movements involved in ascending, descending, wheeling, gliding, and progressing horizontally, are all the result of muscular power and weight, properly directed and acting upon appropriate surfaces—that apparent buoyancy in birds which we so highly esteem, arising not from superior lightness, but from their possessing that degree of solidity which enables them to subjugate the air,—weight and independent motion, i.e. motion associated with animal life, or what is equivalent thereto, being the two things indispensable in successful aërial progression. The weight in insects and birds is in great measure owing to their greatly developed muscular system, this being in that delicate state of tonicity which enables them to act through its instrumentality with marvellous dexterity and power, and to expend or reserve their energies, which they can do with the utmost exactitude, in their apparently interminable flights.
Lifting-capacity of Birds.—The muscular power in birds is usually greatly in excess, particularly in birds of prey, as, e.g. the condors, eagles, hawks, and owls. The eagles are remarkable in this respect—these having been known to carry off young deer, lambs, rabbits, hares, and, it is averred, even young children. Many of the fishing birds, as the pelicans and herons, can likewise carry considerable loads of fish;[101] and even the smaller birds, as the records of spring show, are capable of transporting comparatively large twigs for building purposes. I myself have seen an owl, which weighed a little over 10 ounces, lift 2 1/2 ounces, or a quarter of its own weight, without effort, after having fasted twenty-four hours; and a friend informs me that a short time ago a splendid osprey was shot at Littlehampton, on the coast of Sussex, with a fish 5 lbs. weight in its mouth.
There are many points in the history and economy of birds which crave our sympathy while they elicit our admiration. Their indubitable courage and miraculous powers of flight invest them with a superior dignity, and secure for their order almost a duality of existence. The swallow, tiny and inconsiderable as it may appear, can traverse 1000 miles at a single journey; and the albatross, despising compass and landmark, trusts himself boldly for weeks together to the mercy or fury of the mighty ocean. The huge condor of the Andes lifts himself by his sovereign will to a height where no sound is heard, save the airy tread of his vast pinions, and, from an unseen point, surveys in solitary grandeur the wide range of plain and pasture-land;[102] while the bald eagle, nothing daunted by the din and indescribable confusion of the queen of waterfalls, the stupendous Niagara, sits composedly on his giddy perch, until inclination or desire prompts him to plunge into or soar above the drenching mists which, shapeless and ubiquitous, perpetually rise from the hissing waters of the nether caldron.
Fig. 108.—Hawk and quarry.—After The Graphic.