WHY BIRDS CAN FLY.

Northern Advocate, 7 October 1913, Page 6

WHY BIRDS CAN FLY.

AND WHY MEN CANNOT HOPE TO

EMULATE THEM

A remarkable exhibition that will make a strong appeal to all interested in flying has been prepared by the authorities of the Natural History Museum in Cromwell Road, London. It consists of numerous specimens and models that enable one to study the structural peculiarities that enable birds and insects to fly.

The vital difference between the flying of birds and of human inventions is that the birds use only one movement of the wings both to keep themselves supported in the air and to drive themselves along. Human inventions for aviation, on the contrary, have to employ two contrivances; one to sustain their weight— such as the planes of the aeroplane and the gasbag of a ballon —and another to move them through tlie air —the engine and propeller.

In some early attempts at flying birds' wings were used as a model; but the lecturer wlio explained the exhibition told a "Daily News and Leader" representative that there was little prospect of wings ever being made which would carry a human being.

The reason is that feathers, while light enough in the small quantity required for a bird, would be too heavy for flight when used in a sufficient quantity to support a man.

The closest resemblance to an aeroplane which is to be found among the exhibits is a beetle, whose front Avings support it after the manner of planes, while the back wings drive it forward.

Some of the most interesting specimens are those of the pterodactyle, an extinct flying reptile whose wings measured some 18 feet across.