Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 07.djvu/814

* FLIGHTLESS BIRDS. r:30 FLINDERSIA. form a primary group, comprising the moa, epiornis, and other fossil or extinct forms, and the existing kiwis (Apteryx), ostriches, casso- waries, etc. They are distinguished as a class by the fact that the median line of the breast- bone is not produced into an elevated ridge or 'keel' as is the case with all other, or carinate, birds, where this keel is required to give attach- ment to the great pectoral muscles that move the wings. It is believed, however, that the ratite birds are a modified, not to say degen- erate offshoot from the primitive carinate stock, originating at a very early day in adaptation to life upon open plains, where, from lack of enemies, or for some other reason, the use of the wings was less advantageous than ability in other directions, and consequently disappeared. Such birds are now denizens almost exclusively of plains and deserts. See Cassowary; Kiwi: Moa: Ostbich; and similar titles. In the case of the other category, various cir- cumstances seem to have brought about the flightless condition. In some, indeed, it is only partial, while others have completely lost the use of their wings for flying. Among the latter are the penguins, in which the wings have been converted into paddles, an adaptation to the re- quirements of a pelagic bird whose prey is caught under water ; the same was true of the extinct great auk (see Gakefowl) ; and in the Mesozoic hesperornis the loss extended to a complete dis- appearance of any external wings whatever. An- other striking example is furnished by the extinct dodo and solitaire ( qq.v. ) of Mauritius and Rodriguez islands, whose wings had become small and totally useless, owing, it is believed, to the fact that, through innumerable generations, these birds had found no advantage in their possession, but rather a disadvantage in the prevailing high winds which often made it unsafe to fly much above the trees lest the birds be blown to sea. A fact parallel with this is the wingless condition on these islands of various insects belonging to classes that are elsewhere in full possession and use of their wings. A precisely similar instance, also, is found in a rail isolated on the island of Tristan d'Acunha. which has lost the power of flight, and whose wings have nearly disappeared. (See Rail.) Another curious instance of the flightless condition is afforded by an extinct goose [Cremiornis calcitrans) of New Zealand, re- mains of which are found in that country, but the epoch to which they should be referred is un- certain. The duck Nesonetta, confined to the Auckland Islands, near New Zealand, is a similar ease. Harris's cormorant is another of the sev- eral further examples which might be cited of the effect of isolation (q.V.) on islands as affecting flight. It is an inhabitant of the Galapagos Islands. FLIM'NAP. The premier of the Lilliputians in Swift's Gulliver's Travels. The character was intended by the author as :i caricature of Sir Robert Walpole. FLINCK, Oovaert ( 1615-60) . A Dutch genre and portrait painter, born in Cleves, January 25, 1615. Hi- was :i pupil of Lambert Jacobsz of Leeuwarden, also of Rembrandt, who was a friend as well as master; and at one period of his life Plinck's paintings and Rembrandt's re- bled each other so closely that the critics found it difficult to distinguish them. Establish- ing a studio .'i Amsterdam in 1636, he became well known as a portrait painter and received many official commissions. The arrangement of the compositions is good; the treatment is broad with warmth of color in the flesh tones; the pose of the heads natural, full of animation, with a feeling of tenderness. In the later years of his life, he was influenced by the Flemish schools, also by Murillo. He died in Amsterdam February 2, 1560, leaving a large collection of antiquities, drawings, and engravings valued at 12,000 florins. The following paintings are among his best-known works: "Isaac Blessing Jacob" (1638), in the Museum of Amsterdam; the "Regents" (1642), Hotel de Ville. Amsterdam; the "Archers" (1648), Museum of Amsterdam; "Man and His Sister" (1646), Rotterdam; "Ex- pulsion of Hagar," Berlin Museum; "Guard Room," Munich. Consult Havard, L'art et lea artistes hollandais, ii. (Paris, 1880). FLIN'DERS, Matthew (1774-1814). An English navigator and hydrographer, born at Donington, Lincolnshire. He studied geometry and navigation by himself, and in 1790 entered the Royal Navy as a midshipman. After active service in. European waters and in the West Indies, he was attached in 1795 to the Reliance. with which he sailed to Australia. There he spent five years, devoting the greater part of his time to geographical discoveries and coast sur- veys. Flinders circumnavigated Tasmania in a small sloop, and made exact geographical obser- vations and calculations regarding the island. He was promoted a lieutenant in 1798, and on his return to England was placed in command of the ship Investigator, with instructions to return to New Holland, as Australia was then called, and complete a systematic survey of its coast. Flinders sailed from England in July, 1801, and beginning with Cape Leeuwin on the southwest coast, he spent the following two years in trac- ing and mapping the coast-line east and north- ward as far as the Gulf of Carpentaria on the north coast. Being unable to complete the sur- vey of the west coast, owing to the unseaworthi- ness of the Investigator, he started to return to England in a small ship, but having unfortunate- ly stopped at Mauritius on his way, he was de- tained there a prisoner for six and a half years. Released at length, he returned to England broken in health, and completed the account of his voy- age and discoveries only a short time before hi3 death. He was promoted to the grade of captain in 1810. Flinders ranks as one of the world's greatest hydrographers. and his survey of the Australian coast still forms the basis for the modern charts. He was also the first successfully to investigate the errors of the compass due to tlic attraction of iron in a ship. His account of his voyage was published in the year of his death (1814). under the title A Voyage to Terra Aus- tin/is 1 2 vols, with atlas). I '(insult also a "Memoir" in the Vaval Chronicle, vol. xxxii. (London, 1815). FLINDER'SIA (Neo-Lat, named in honor of Capt. Matthew Flinders). A genus of trees of i in- order Meliacese. One species, Flindersia au«- tralis, yields a heavy, hard, and often dark tim- ber thai is inferior In mahogany, It is much used in Australia, and is there called ITlihdosa ash or crow's ash. The tree is of rather rapid growth, specimens [00 i" 160 feet in height ami I in (i feet in diameter being reported. /'7m- dersia Oxleyana, a tree 150 feet high, furnishes