94 



the night, before crossing the North Sea? The evidence which 

 may be gathered from Mr. Eagle Clarke's digest of the observa- 

 tions collected from the lighthouses and lightships by the Com- 

 mittee on Migration, altogether favours this view. 



"We are not told that this speed of 108 miles an hour is 

 attained under any special conditions as regards strength and 

 direction of the wind, so we may fairly assume that the feat is 

 accomplished during the prevalence of ordinary weather. In 

 Herr Gatke's opinion the Hooded Crow is more indifferent 

 than the majority of species in this respect. It naturally 

 happens, however, that sometimes winds are encountered which, 

 while they do not arrest their flight, still modify the manner of 

 its performance in a peculiar way. On p. 27 we read — " During 

 the autumn migration it frequently happens that when out at 

 sea they are carried into air currents stronger than is suitable to 

 their line of flight, a violent south-east wind being especially 

 unfavourable to their normal progress. To escape the disagree- 

 able experience of having this wind blowing through their ijlumage 

 obliquely from behind, they turn their body southwards, and 

 appear to be flying in this direction." This is, however, only 

 apparently the case, as we are told that — " their flight is con- 

 tinued in as exact a westerly course and tcith the same speed as 

 though the birds were moving under favourable conditions 

 straight forwards," i.e., a speed of 108 miles an hour. 



The italicised portions of the above extract will shed con- 

 siderable light upon the actual rate at which these Hooded 

 Crows are travelling. It will be granted that a gale blowing 

 with a force equal to fifty or sixty miles an hour will fairly cover 

 the widest estimate of the force of the before-mentioned "violent 

 south-east wind." But it is difficult to see how a wind travelling 

 at this rate could blow through the feathers of a bird flying with 

 a velocity equal to 108 miles an hour. A cyclist could have given 

 Herr Gatke a hint here, and at the same time have drawn a 

 more accurate estimate of the speed of these Crows. A rider 

 travelling at the rate of sixteen miles an hour with a twelve-mile 

 breeze behind him is quite unconscious of the latter were it not 

 for the movements of surrounding vegetation. Indeed he will, 

 even under these favourable conditions, be aware of a slight 



