The theory that migrating birds attain high speeds received en- 

 couragement from the German ornithologist Gatke (1895), who for 

 many years made observations on birds at the island of Heligoland. 

 He postulated that the blue-throat, a species of thrush smaller than 

 the American hermit thrush, would leave African winter quarters at 

 dusk and reach Heligoland at dawn, which would mean a sustained 

 speed of 200 miles an hour, and that the American golden plover flew 

 from the coast of Labrador to Brazil in 15 hours, or at the tremendous 

 speed of 250 miles an hour. Most ornithologists now consider these 

 conclusions to be unwarranted. 



Sportsmen also often greatly overestimate the speed at which ducks 

 and geese fly and sometimes attempt to substantiate their estimates by 

 mathematical calculation, based upon the known velocity of a charge 

 of shot, the estimated distance and the estimated "lead" that was neces- 

 sary to hit the bird. If all three elements of the equation were known 

 with certainty, the speed of the bird could be determined with a fair 

 degree of accuracy. The majority of the ducks that are reported as 

 killed at 40, 50, or even 60 yards, however, actually are shot at distances 

 much less than estimated. To sight along a gun barrel and estimate 

 correctly the distance of a moving object against the sky is so nearly 

 impossible for the average gunner as to make such calculations of little 

 value. 



During the past few years reliable data on the speed of birds have 

 accumulated slowly. It has been found that a common flying speed 

 of ducks and geese is between 40 and 50 miles an hour, and that it is 

 much less among the smaller birds. Herons, hawks, horned larks, 

 ravens, and shrikes, timed with the speedometer of an automobile, have 

 been found to fly 22 to 28 miles an hour, while some of the flycatchers 

 are such slow fliers that they attain only 10 to 17 miles an hour. Even 

 such fast-flying birds as the mourning dove rarely exceed 35 miles an 

 hour. All these birds can fly faster, but it is to be remembered that at 

 training camps during World War I, airplanes having a maximum 

 speed of about 80 miles an hour easily overtook flocks of ducks that, 

 it may be supposed, were making every effort to escape. Aviators have 

 claimed that at 65 miles an hour they can overtake the fastest ducks, 

 though cases are on record of ducks passing airplanes that were making 

 55 miles an hour. 



The greatest bird speeds that have been reliably recorded are of the 

 swifts and the duck hawk, or peregrine falcon. An observer in an 



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