CHAPTER IX. 

 PACE AND LAST. 



EXPERIMENTS AND OBSERVATIONS — WIND — VELOCITY OP 

 MIGRATORY FLIGHTS — ENDURANCE. 



Many and various are the ways that have been 

 tried of measuring the velocity of the flight of birds, 

 and, unfortunately, the various ways lead us to 

 divergent conclusions. Some years ago some experi- 

 ments of indisputable accuracy were made in a 

 range constructed for experimental shooting. Two 

 " screens " formed of very fine threads were put up 

 at a distance of forty yards from one another. These 

 screens were connected with electrical apparatus, 

 by means of which the time occupied by the bird 

 in traversing the forty yards was registered. The 

 highest speed attained by any of the twelve Pigeons 

 experimented on was 33*8 miles per hour, the lowest 

 26*1. Similar experiments have been made in the 

 open. The velocity of four Pigeons was measured 

 on a calm day by persons stationed at a certain 

 distance from one another, who marked carefully 

 the moment at which the birds came opposite to 

 them and registered it with a stop-watch. The 

 fastest travelled at the rate of 27*9 miles per hour. 

 Pheasants were experimented on in the same way 

 in the range and in the open ; in the former case the 

 velocity was 33*8, in the latter 36*1 miles per hour. 



