Abstract
SOME time since I had occasion to ascend a mountain in the neighbourhood. The wind was blowing over the ridge-like crest of the mountain with a velocity of, I should say, ten or twelve miles an hour, sweeping with increased rapidity through certain transverse gorges cutting the ridge at right angles. In one of these I observed a hawk hovering in search of prey. In the midst of this rapid air current the bird remained apparently fixed in space, without fluttering a wing, for at least two minutes. After a time it gently changed its position a few feet with a slight motion of its wings, and then came to rest again as before, remaining apparently as motionless as the rocks around it. From my nearness to it a change of position of an inch would have been clearly visible, and yet except when it seemed to desire to change its point of observation no motion of any kind could be detected. How is this to be accounted for? Does a bird possess the power of giving an extremely rapid tremulous motion to its wings invisible even at a small distance, similar in its nature to the wing vibration of certain insects, which, as any one may have noticed, have a similar power of apparently fixing themselves in space over a flower, for example, notwithstanding a condsiderable amount of motion in the air in which they are suspended?
Article PDF
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
GUTHRIE, J. Flight of Birds. Nature 8, 86 (1873). https://doi.org/10.1038/008086a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/008086a0
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.