300 THE SPEED ATTAINED BY SOME BIRDS. 



we shall venture to say on this head is, that the 

 opponents of the high speed theory are met with 

 difficulties quite as great as those which beset its 

 supporters. The evidence for and against these rival 

 claims has been shortly and well summarized in a let- 

 ter which appeared in The Field newspaper, as follows : 



" Take the case of the Blue Throat if it does not 

 go at the alleged rate of miles per hour, it must be 

 capable of a sustained flight of some 40 hours quite 

 as incredible a statement as that with regard to speed. 

 Again, with the plovers that are not found anywhere 

 on the American coast between Labrador and Brazil 

 3000 miles at what rate is this carried out? By 

 diminishing the speed we get into the difficulty of time. 

 A bird may possibly be able to float for days in the air, 

 without food or rest, but if so, that is at least as startling 

 a novelty as Herr Gatke's extraordinary speeds." * 



It is in fact obvious that if (at least) 3000 miles of 

 ocean has to be crossed at the high speed of 2 1 6 miles 

 per hour, it will take 14^- hours, or thereabouts to 

 accomplish the journey ; whereas if the bird only flies 

 at the rate of 50 miles an hour, it will require 60 

 hours to perform the same distance. We leave the 

 reader therefore to form his own conclusions, as to 

 which side the balance of probabilities seems to incline. 



The destruction of life among the feathered tribes 

 during their migrations is, as might be expected, 

 enormous. When we say that, it conveys, we fear, 

 but a very vague idea of what those few words 

 import: or of the countless myriads of these graceful 

 and delicate creatures which meet their deaths by it. 



* Extract letter signed T. M. Pike in The Field of Nov. 23, 1895, 

 P. 833- 



