566 . MIGRATION 
—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 im 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 Gitke 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 (iedd, 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 fy 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 Gitke 
justice I must admit his general contention to be sustained by a good observer, Mr. 
Oswald Crawfurd, who states (Rownd 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- 
Doves leaving ‘‘ Kent or Surrey at dawn, might easily be the very birds that a few 
hours later were skimming over the Portuguese pine-forests on their way to Central 
Africa.” 
1 At the request of the editor of Zhe Field Mr. Griffith made some trials 
which are reported in that journal (19 Feb. 1887, pp. 242, 248), 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, 
