Abstract
ON August 12, 1881, I observed a hawk maintaining an apparently stationary position at a height of about 200 feet above the surface of flat ground. He was as a matter of course facing the wind, which blew, if I remember rightly, from the west. For the most part his wings remained motionless, but now and then he fluttered them for a little while. This was over the sensibly level plain which lies between Machrihanish Bay and Campbeltown Loch, at the southern end of the Mull of Cantire, and, curiously enough, on or close to the Duke of Argyll's property. The exact spot was about a mile and a half eastwards from Machrihanish Bay, and about three-quarters of a mile northwards from the southern boundary of the plain. There could not be any “slant upward current,” such as Mr. Airy supposes, maintaining him in that position; at any rate, there was no sloping ground near.
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GALLOWAY, W. Hovering of Birds. Nature 27, 337 (1883). https://doi.org/10.1038/027337a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/027337a0
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