The kite gliding with wings and tail held oblique
The kite soars without beating its wings, its tail set oblique but less so than the wings
A faint pencil sketch of a bird in flight, its wings outstretched, crosses the top of the leaf above a passage in mirror-writing. Leonardo describes how the kite climbs or descends without beating its wings, holding them oblique and its tail oblique in the same sense, but with less obliquity. Otherwise, he reasons, the bird would drop to earth along the line of that obliquity; the tail, lying beyond the centre of the bird's length, plays a balancing role. The sentence breaks off and continues on another folio.
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The kite soaring on oblique wings and tail
When the kite mounts or descends without beating its wings, it holds the wings oblique and the tail oblique in the same direction, but with less obliquity. Otherwise the bird would fall to earth along the line of the obliquity of wings and tail. The tail, being beyond the centre of the bird's length, counters this and the passage breaks off mid-thought.