Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 June 1894 — Aerial Power of Birds. [ARTICLE]

Aerial Power of Birds.

It has been shown that the wing area of the different flying creatures varies from about forty-nine square feet per pound of weight in the gnat, ,and five square feet in the swallow, to 'half a square foot per pound of weight in the Australian crane. The frigate bird has the most wonderful wing power of any of the flying animals, being able to cut the air at the rate of 100 miles an hour, and live continually on the wing day and night for a week or ten days. Ornithologists of note even give it as their opinion that a healthy individual of this species would be equal to the task of making a trip around the world without once closing its wings in rest! It is also claimed that some species can remain motionless in the air for hours without flapping their wings; that they can exert three times the horse power per pound of weight that a man can, and about the same amount more than a horse. It is, without question, a fact that birds in general can exert physical energy that is without parallel in nature. It is generally supposed that birds are lighter, bulk for bulk,«than other animals, but repeated 'experiments have proven that • there are no grounds upon which to base such an opinion.—[St. Louis Republic.