on the first glide into a head wind Pilcher rose to a height of
twelve feet and remained in the the air for a third of a minute;
in the second attempt a rope was used to tow the glider, which
rose to twenty feet and did not come to earth again until nearly
a minute had passed. With experience Pilcher was able to
lengthen his glide and improve his balance, but the dropped wing
tips made landing difficult, and there were many breakages.

In consequence of this Pilcher built a second glider which he
named the 'Beetle,' because, as he said, it looked like one. In
this the square-cut wings formed almost a continuous plane,
rigidly fixed to the central body, which consisted of a shaped
girder. These wings were built up of five transverse bamboo
spars, with two shaped ribs running from fore to aft of each
wing, and were stayed overhead to a couple of masts. The tail,
consisting of two discs placed crosswise (the horizontal one
alone being movable), was carried high up in the rear. With the
exception of the wing-spars, the whole framework was built of
white pine. The wings in this machine were actually on a higher
level than the operator's head; the centre of gravity was,
consequently, very low, a fact which, according to Pilcher's own
account, made the glider very difficult to handle. Moreover, the
weight of the 'Beetle,' 80 lbs., was considerable; the body had
been very solidly built to enable it to carry the engine which
Pilcher was then contemplating; so that the glider carried some
225 lbs. with its area of 170 square feet--too great a mass for
a single man to handle with comfort.

It was in the spring of 1896 that Pilcher built his third
glider, the 'Gull,' with 300 square feet of area and a weight of