CHAPTER IX. 
PACE AND LAST. 
EXPERIMENTS AND OBSERVATIONS—WIND—VELOCITY OF 
MIGRATORY FLIGHTS—ENDURANCE. 
Many and various are the ways that have been 
tried of measuring the velocity of the flight of birds, 
and, unfortunately, the various ways lead us to 
divergent conclusions. Some years ago some experi- 
ments of indisputable accuracy were made in a 
range constructed for experimental shooting. Two 
“‘ screens ’’ formed of very fine threads were put up 
at a distance of forty yards from one another. These 
screens were connected with electrical apparatus, 
by means of which the time occupied by the bird 
in traversing the forty yards was registered. The 
highest speed attained by any of the twelve Pigeons 
experimented on was 33°8 miles per hour, the lowest 
261. Similar experiments have been made in the 
open. The velocity of four Pigeons was measured 
on a calm day by persons stationed at a certain 
distance from one another, who marked carefully 
the moment at which the birds came opposite to 
them and registered it with a stop-watch. The 
fastest travelled at the rate of 27°9 miles per hour. 
Pheasants were experimented on in the same way 
in the range and in the open ; in the former case the 
velocity was 33°8, in the latter 36:1 miles per hour. 
