54 Poachers and Poaching. 



other. The beautiful swallow-tailed kite has 

 accomplished the feat of flying across the whole 

 Atlantic Ocean, which is hardly to be wondered 

 at seeing its vast powers of flight. Lieuwenholk 

 relates an exciting chase which he saw in a 

 menagerie about one hundred feet long between 

 a swallow and a dragon-fly (Mordella). The 

 insect flew with incredible speed, and wheeled 

 with such address that the swallow, notwith- 

 standing its utmost efforts, completely failed to 

 overtake and capture it. The best speed of a 

 railway train is only a little more than half the 

 velocity of the golden eagle, the flight of which 

 often attains to the rate of one hundred and 

 forty miles an hour. Of all birds, the condor 

 mounts highest into the atmosphere. Humboldt 

 describes the flight of this bird in the Andes to 

 be at least twenty thousand feet above the level 

 of the sea. Upon one occasion a falcon was 

 observed to cut a snipe right in two, with such 

 strength and speed did it cut down its prey. 

 Sparrow-hawks and merlins have not unfrequently 

 been known to crash through thick plate- 

 glass windows when in pursuit of prey, or at 

 caged birds. 



Of all British birds, none is so beautiful or so 

 secluded in its habits as the kingfisher. Its 

 presence is peculiarly in keeping with the rapid 

 rocky trout streams which it loves to haunt. 

 Its low, arrow-like flight, as it darts like a streak 



