90 FRIENDS WORTH KNOWING. 
flew from Rouen to Ghent, one hundred and fifty miles, in 
an hour and a half; but this speed is surpassed by our own 
wild pigeons, which have been shot in New York before 
the rice they had picked in Georgia had been digested. / It 
is ascertained that a certain warbler must wing its “way 
from Egypt to Heligoland, one thousand two hundred 
miles, in one night, and it is probable that martins endure 
equal exertion every long summer’s day, in their ceaseless 
pursuit of insects. | Taking, then, one hundred miles per 
hour as the rate of flight during migrations, we need not. 
be surprised that representatives of more than thirty spe- 
cies of our wood-birds have been shot in the British Isles, 
since they could well sustain the sixteen hundred miles be- 
tween Newfoundland and Ireland. 
“A good ornithologist,” says White of Selborne, “should 
be able to distinguish birds by their air, as well as their 
colors and shape, on the ground as well as on the wing, 
and in the bush as well as in the hand.” Almost every 
family of birds has its peculiarities of manner. Thus, the 
kites and buzzards glide round in circles with wings ex- 
panded and motionless; marsh-hawks or harriers fly low 
over meadows and stubble-fields, beating the ground regu- 
larly. Crows and jays lumber along as though it were 
hard work; and herons are still more clumsy, having their 
ee 
