Note c — BOOK VII.

In all Birds that fly much, or that have the most occasion for their Wings, it is manifest that their Wings are plac’d in the very best Part, to balance their Body in the Air, and to give as swift a Progression, as their Wings and Body are capable of: For otherwise we should perceive them to reel, and fly unsteadily; as we see them to do, if we alter their Æquipoise, by cutting the End of one of the Wings, or hanging a Weight at any of the extreme Parts of the Body. But as for such Birds as have as much occasion for Swimming as Flying, and whole Wings are therefore set a little out of the Center of the Bodies Gravity. See Book IV. Chap. 8. Note (q). And for such as have more occasion for Diving than Flying, and whose Legs are for that Reason set more backward, and their Wings more forward. Chap. 4. Note (k) of this Book.