Excerpt from The Natural History of Birds, Vol. 2: With the Method of Bringing Up and Managing Those of the Singing Kind Every part of tlieir mechanifm, as was before oh ferved, feems adapted/for the improvemeht of their flight; their bones are eit'tremely light and thin, and their mufcles feeble, except the large pectoral muff cle, by means of which they move their wings with fuch cafe and rapidity. This very firong mufcle fills up all that fpace on each fide ofthe breaift bone, which, tho' fmail in quadrupedes, is. In thefe large, broad, and ex't'ernally of a very great furface by, means of this a bird can move its wings with a degree of firength, which, when compared to the animal's flze, is almofl incredible. No machines that human art can contrive are capable of giving fuch force to fo light an apparatus and for, this reafon alone the art of flying mutt remain one of thofe perfee'tions which man may defire but can never attain fince, as he increafes the force of his machine he mull increafe its weight alfo: The tail of birds ferves to counter balance the head and neck, guides their flight inflead of a rudder, and greatly aflifls them either in their afcent, or when defcending. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.