THE JOURNEYINGS OF BIRDS. 329 



Singly or in groups, large and small, or more seldom in a great throng, 

 the hurrying myriads pressed southward." 



The second station chosen by Mr. Libby was the Washburn Observ- 

 atory, where for three nights he watched the birds passing across the 

 face of the moon. During the three nights a total of 583 birds were 

 counted, the largest number in any fifteen-minute period being 45. 

 Considerable diversity in the direction of flight was noted. Thus up to 

 ten o'clock the prevailing direction was south, but after this time the 

 diversity increased, until it reached its maximum between tw'elve 

 and two o'clock, when eight principal points of the compass were rep- 

 resented by numbers varying from 3 to 28. However, two-thirds of 

 the number were still maintaining a southerly direction. 



Libby attempted to estimate roughly the total number of birds 

 that passed his point of observation during the three nights, but as he 

 well says, 'when one recalls the relatively small size of the moon's sur- 

 face as compared to its path from east to west, within the range of 

 vision,' the difficulty becomes evident. As nearly as could be made out 

 about 9,000 birds were passing per hour or a grand total of 168,000. 



The rate of speed at which birds travel during the migrations, and 

 also at other times, has been made the subject of observation, although 

 the results, as might be expected from the confusing elements which 

 must enter into such an inquiry, are far from complete or satisfactory. 

 If the speed often attained by powerful and swift-flying species, such 

 as ducks, geese, swallows, etc., could be maintained, it is obvious that 

 the time occupied in migrations woiild be inconsiderable. But, as 

 will be shown later, the maximum speed appears to be rarely or 

 never realized at this time. 



Frank Forrester records 90 miles an hour for ducks, as noted by 

 telegraph from point to point, and an albatross has been known to 

 cover 3,150 miles in 12 days. The actual distance flown by the latter 

 bird was probably at least twice as great, for they rarely fly far in a 

 straight line. 



Some years ago Griffitt made some observations (recorded in 'The 

 Field,' Feb. 19, 1887) in a closed gallery on the speed attained by 

 'blue-rock' pigeons and English pheasants and partridges. The two 

 first mentioned flew at the rate of only 32.8 miles per hour, while the 

 partridge made but 28.4 miles, and these rates were all considerably 

 in excess of what they made in the open. The carrier pigeon is a rather 

 fast flying bird, yet the average speed is not very great. Thus the 

 average made in 18 matches ('The Field,' Jan. 22, 1887) was only 36 

 English miles an hour, although in two of these trials a speed of about 

 55 miles was maintained for 4 successive hours. In this country the 

 average racing speed is apparently about 35 miles an hour, although a 

 few exceptionally rapid birds have made short distance flight at the 



