RAPIDITY OF FLIGHT. 77 



gale which blew from the north-west, was attracted by a 

 loud cackling overhead ; from the awkward motion of their 

 wings, he was certain they were not wild Ducks, and they 

 seemed to him to be helped on as much by the wind as their 

 own exertions. He next day heard that the duck-pond of a 

 person in the neighbourhood had been deserted the morning 

 before, about the time he saw them, by thirty Geese, which 

 had all taken flight, and not been since heard of. 



An instance of uncommon flight, though not to the extent 

 of the above, occurred not long ago in Yorkshire. A person 

 had a large flock of Geese, whioh fed on high ground not 

 visible from the house. They were lessened, as occasion 

 required, to about six ; these were fetched home, every night, 

 for some weeks ; and very frequently, on seeing the house 

 from the top of the hill, they would take wing, and fly 

 homewards, making a circuit of about a mile. On one 

 occasion they were on the point of alighting on a pond of 

 water, near the next farm-house, instead of a smaller one 

 near home ; they soon, however, discovered their mistake, 

 and raised themselves in the air, to nearly as great a height 

 as before, alighting on their own water ; and were there long 

 before their driver, notwithstanding that he went mostly in 

 a direct line. These flights were considered as particularly 

 remarkable, because the Geese were at the time quite fat and 

 heavy. We have a similar instance of a common tame Duck, 

 in Hertfordshire, which was in the constant habit of taking 

 flights, with the same power, and at the same height, as a 

 Crow, or as if in its wild state. The people of the village 

 were all aware of its singular propensity, asserting that it 

 would often rise and take the circuit of a mile. 



As to our smaller species, there is scarcely a part of the 

 wide ocean, in the usual route of navigators, over which some 

 of the little land-birds have not been seen flitting, blown off, 

 in many instances, possibly, from their native shores, by 

 gali-s of wind, and no doubt often perishing in the waters, 

 but still leaving survivors enough to give evidence of their 

 uncommon strength of wing. Thus our well-known cheerful 

 little bird, the Tomtit (Parus major), has been met with in 



