76 RAPIDITY OF FLIGHT. 



stinct which induces birds to visit and retire from certain 

 countries at particular times of the year, it is necessary 

 to say a little on the speed with which they can pass 

 through the air, and their capacity for continuing on the 

 wing without being fatigued. Few people, we believe, 

 are aware of the very great rapidity of a bird's flight, 

 and many will doubtless be surprised when they are 

 informed, that even our slower birds can most of them 

 make their way at the rate of thirty miles an hour, 

 without any extraordinary effort; but that, if pressed, 

 they can considerably exceed that speed. There is an 

 easy way of ascertaining with tolerable accuracy the rate 

 of a bird's flight, which from experience we can recom- 

 mend as equally amusing and interesting. It is this: 

 Suppose any bird, a Partridge for instance, rises in the 

 middle of a stubble, and flies in a straight line over a 

 hedge; all the observer has to do, is to note by the 

 seconds hand of a watch (and those who have not 

 seconds-hand watches may easily learn, at least suffi- 

 ciently for practical purposes, to count them), the number 

 of seconds between the moment of the bird's rising and 

 that of its topping the hedge; and then ascertain the 

 distance between the point from whence it rose and 

 the hedge, by stepping and counting the number 

 of paces; when, supposing each pace to be a yard, we 

 have a common Rule of Three sum. Thus, if a 

 Partridge, in three seconds, flies one hundred yards, how 

 many yards will it fly in 3600 seconds, or one hour? or 



seconds yards seconds 



as 3 : 100 : : 3600: the number of yards required, 

 which will be 3 . 600 >< 100 or 120,000 yards, which will 

 amount to (as there are 1760 yards in a mile) about sixty 

 miles an hour. 



Again, suppose some Starlings are seen feeding in a 

 field at A, at no great distance from a church tower, B c, 

 in which they are building; or a Crow flies from a certain 

 spot to the top of a tree; we may proceed in the same 

 manner: for the height of the tower or tree will, in most 



