ALTITUDE AND SPEED OF FLIGHT 



figures indicate, and Colonel Meinertzhagen, him- 

 self, states that he hesitates even to guess at the 

 rate to which a swift can attain when the necessity 

 arises. ' ' This — the fastest of birds," he remarks, 

 * ' can increase its ' feeding ' speed of say 70 

 miles per hour to a velocity that must exceed 100 

 miles per hour." 



It may be added that Colonel Meinertzhagen's 

 observations were made in several countries, in- 

 cluding East Africa and Palestine, as well as in 

 France, and we hope that his scientifically de- 

 rived statistics will do much to put an end to the 

 wild assertions that have been made in regard 

 to the flight of birds — as, for example, that oft- 

 quoted one ol Crawfurd's in ' ' Round the Calendar 

 in Portugal " to the effect that turtle-doves leaving 

 Kent at dawn reach Portugal in a' few^hours. 



65 



