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 w T ing, 

 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 



