PACE AND LAST 105 
Quail, when one sees it on migration, flying past a 
steamer, does not seem to be one of the fastest flyers. 
Unfortunately, Commander Lynes does not record 
any observations made on the wind at the time the 
Quails were flying the measured distance. 
Mr. H. H. Clayton, when engaged in measuring the 
heights and velocities of clouds by means of special 
theodolites, took the opportunity of finding the pace 
and the height at which passing flocks of birds 
were flying. In one case—the birds were Ducks—he 
found the speed to be 47°8 miles per hour and the 
altitude 958 feet above the ground. Some Geese 
flew at 44°3 miles per hour at a height of 905 feet.* 
I believe Mr. Clayton gives no record of the wind. 
The records of the races of Homing Pigeons give 
a very favourable verdict. But when the “ times ”’ 
have been very good, there has been in almost every 
case (perhaps in every case without exception) a tail- 
wind to help them. I take some records from the 
Homing Fancier’s Annual for 1892. For 82 miles a 
bird maintained a velocity of just over 71 miles per 
hour. The weather was “splendid,” but the winner so 
outstripped all the others that we cannot help being 
slightly suspicious as to the correctness of the record. 
In a longer race—2154 miles, from the Scilly Isles 
to its home in Wiltshire—a Pigeon kept up a speed 
of 504 miles per hour. In a short race—only 80 
miles !—we have a velocity of 582 miles recorded. 
In a race of moderate length—170 miles—the winner 
travelled at the rate of just over 54 miles. There 
is another record of 574 maintained for 104 miles. 
In all these cases, with one exception, it is recorded 
* Science, N.S., Vol. v, No. 105, p. 26. 
