NOCTURNAL MIGRATION 59 



Ceylon (probably a species of swift) is the fastest- 

 flying bird since he states that the noise made by 

 flocks of these birds may be heard as they pass, but 

 that the birds themselves move so rapidly that they 

 may not be seen ! ^ These statements, it is hardly 

 necessary to say, are wholly erroneous. 



During the past ten years reliable data on the 

 subject of flight have accumulated slowly. In 191 6 I 

 published records secured by timing the flight of a 

 number of birds by means of the speedometer of an 

 automobile, and in such diverse forms as herons, 

 hawks, horned larks, ravens, and shrikes found the 

 rate to vary from 22 to 28 miles per hour. Flight in 

 all these cases was normal and unhurried. Records 

 of another observer, H. B. Wood,=' show speeds of 

 only 10 to 17 miles per hour for Arkansas kingbirds 

 and scissor-tailed flycatchers. Hugh Gladstone cites 

 other records 2 in which it was found that the willow- 

 warbler travelled at 23 J miles per hour, the pied wag- 

 tail at 25, the European blackbird over 22, missel 

 thrush 23, and the cuckoo 23 miles per hour. 



Passing over scattered notes that verify the 

 figures just cited we come to a far more comprehen- 

 sive study by Col. R. Meinertzhagen in the "Ibis'* 



^ Quoted by Gladstone, Record Bags and Shooting Records (1922), 

 p. 189. 



» Bird-Lore, 1923, p. 121. 



3 Record Bags and Shooting Records (1922), p. 185. 



