566 MIGRA TION 



— the latter especially,^ for as yet little has been effected of the 

 kind. 



But lay down the paths of migratory Birds, observe their 

 comings and goings, or strive to account for the impulse which 

 urges them forward as we will, there still remains for consideration 

 the most marvellous thing of all — How do the birds find their way 

 so unerringly from such immense distances % This seems to be by 

 far the most inexplicable part of the matter. Year after year the 

 migratory Wagtail will build her nest in the accustomed spot, and 

 year after year the migratory Cuckow will deposit her eggs in that 

 nest, and yet in each interval of time the former may have passed 

 some months on the shores of the Mediterranean, and the latter, 

 absent for a still longer period, may have wandered into the heart 

 of Africa.^ There was a time when the writer had hopes that 



5 P.M. ; but it is not proved that they are the same birds. If they are, the 

 distance being about 360 miles they must have flown at the rate of 120 miles 

 an hour — a speed few will believe it possible for a bird of the Crow-kind to 

 attain. But Herr Gatke would have even this speed exceeded by the Bluethroat 

 (of which more presently), believing that it travels from the Delta to Heligoland in 

 9 hours, while he has ascertained that Curlews, Godwits, and Plovers cross from 

 Heligoland to the oyster-beds lying to the eastward, a known distance of 22,000 

 feet, or rather more than 4 English miles, in one minute, or at the rate of over 

 240 miles an hour ! On the other hand, Mr. Tegetmeier declares [Field, 22 Jan. 

 1887, p. 114) that the average speed of Carrier Pigeons in 18 matches is 

 36 English miles an hour, though in two of them a rapidity of about 55 

 miles was maintained for 4 hours in succession. If I might cite my own 

 experience, it is to the effect that the Swallow does not ordinarily fly so fast as 

 the express train from which one may view it, and a train going at no great speed 

 completely outstrips the Partridges which rise in front of it and fly for a few hundred 

 yards alongside of it, as I have observed again and again. Yet to do Herr Gatke 

 justice I must admit his general contention to be sustained by a good observer, Mr. 

 Oswald Crawfurd, who states {Round the Calendar in Portugal, pp. 154-156) in 

 regard to the wonderful speed with which Turtle-Doves fly on Migration in 

 autumn, that he once made a calculation to arrive at the pace of their travelling ; 

 "but the result came out in such surprising figures " that he would not set them 

 down. He convinced himself, however, that, if the flight were continuous, Turtle- 

 Do ves leaving " Kent or Surrey at dawn, might easily be the very bii-ds that a few 

 hours later were skimming over the Portuguese pine-forests on their way to Central 

 Africa." 



^ At the request of the editor of The Field Mr. Griffith made some trials 

 which are reported in that journal (19 Feb. 1887, pp. 242, 243), but most of them 

 cannot be regarded as satisfactory, having been made in a covered gallery, for it 

 proved that "Blue rock" Pigeons and Partridges flew faster in this gallery of 

 limited length than in the open, so far as the experiments went. The greatest 

 rapidity, in the 40 yards' range, was Pigeons and Pheasants 33 "8 miles an hour, 

 Partridges 28-4 ; in the open. Pigeons 27 "9, Pheasants 38*1, Partridges 32'1. It 

 is much to be wished that experiments of this kind could be repeated on a more 

 extended scale ; but of course the difficulty attending such trials is very great. 



- Absolute proof of the identity of the particular birds is indeed wanting, 



