Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 207, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 August 1912 — Man and the Bird [ARTICLE]

Man and the Bird

Man’s conquest of space by heavier-than-air machines and his difficulties in controlling his mechanisms In vary* lng currents and eddies have naturally aroused interest In the doings of his most easily-studied prototypes—the birds. Although a bird is far better equipped than a man, even in the most perfect and powerful flying machine yet invented, to cope with swirling gusts and sudden blasts, few feathered creatures care to fly during a storm. Drexel says: "The aeroplane has Its limitations, and they are so far very narrow ones.” If this be true of the mechanical .power, what of the guiding intelligence behind it? write* Richard Kearton in The Sphere. Man has to conceive a situation and communicate his will through his limbs to his mechanism, whereas a bird instinctively throws Its will Into Its wings and tall, which Is a much shorter path to results. Now let us glance for a moment at the relative speeds of mental perception In a man and a bird. For a long series of years I have undergone a severe training in quick mental perception and at the crucial moment setting rapidly-answering mechanical contrivances In motion, and have no hesitation In stating that the powers of the most alert human being when compared with those of a bird are as the speed of a snail to that of a Derby winner. Some Idea of a bird’s marvelous rapidity of perception and resultant action may be gained when I state that I have exposed dozens of photographic plates with my focalplane index showing,,that I was working at a speed of the 200th part of a second before I secured a picture of a crested tit on a branch near its nestling hole. Even in such a short space of time the bird was able to conceive the sound and set Its wings in motion before the shutter of the canters closed. No Flights In Rough Weather. Now if such a wonderfully-equipped creature as a bird finds a difficulty in flying in strong currents and eddies, how much greater must these same difficulties be for the airman. Everybody has Been large flocks of starlings going through their astonishing aerial evolutions before retiring to rest for t£e night and marveled at the skill with which they avoided colliding with each other whilst wheeling, twisting and swooping. This Illustrates the extreme rapidity of their mental perception and Its translation into action, but in spite of these very useful qualifications the birds do not Hsk such exhibition displays of flight during very stormy weather. Members of a pack of grouse flushed during a gale of wind have been known to collide and kill each other in midair. I remember on one occasion putting a grouse up near to a stone wall during very gusty weather. The bird had not proceeded far before it was caught by a terrific side blast and hurled against the wall. Falling to the ground it rose again, but Instead of attempting to continue its flight parallel with the fence, took a course at right angles to it, and by a series of vigorous wing beats forced its way straight up into the eye of the wind, and then, turning right around, sailed away over the wall on outstretched wings. Grouse, like seagulls, apppear to be able to read the signs of a coming storm, and frequently seek shelter before the breaking of the blast. I have known them to leave the exposed hilltops and descend even to the meadows right at the bottom of a Yorkshire dale before the oncoming of an exceptionally heavy gale accompanied by hall and rain. Island Birds in a Hurricane. Some years ago whilst in the outer Hebrides I noticed thousands of seagulls of different species sitting quite still in a pasture close to the Atlantic. Every bead was turned toward the sea, from which a moderate breeze was blowing. By the middle of the afternoon the wind had increased to such hurricane force that pieces of foam as large as a man’s head were being carried from the beach a quarter of a mile inland, and not a bird of any kind was to be seen on the wing. Anxious to see bow my feathered friends were faring during such exceptional weather I struggled forth, sometimes progressing on my lest, and at other* In exposed places, on my hands and knees I found common terns sheltering behind boulders at a considerable distance from the shore. Arriving at a vertical hole some 70 feet la diameter and 50 feet in depth In the roof of a long sea cave, I was astonished to discover a peregrine falcon sitting in the company of about 40 rock doves. The storm had actually mads the lion lie down with the lambs. There was a great clatter of wings aa the terrified birds rose from their place of shelter. The peregrine was carried down wind like g piece of paper and soon disappeared from sight, but the pigeons battled on their strong wings until I had retreated a little way, and all dived into the hole ones more. How much birds dislike windy weather may be gathered from theta* % silence and lack of activity during a rough day in Janet Whilst no bird like# to fly In s strong following wind on account of the liability of have its feathers ruffled, heavy-bodied shortwinged specias, such as dudes, appreciate a strong breeze in which to rise from the ground or water because of