THE SPEED OF THE PIGEON-POST 



37 miles an hour. An interesting correspondence in 

 the Field) following the announcement of this fact, 

 showed how widely observers differ on this most inter- 

 esting question, but the records approach more nearly 

 to the lower estimate in each case in which accuracy has 

 been possible ; and in any case the surmises of the late 

 Dr. Gatke that migrating birds travelled occasionally at 

 speeds reaching 180 miles an hour cannot now be 

 seriously defended. Yet such a good observer as Mr. 

 Frohawk, one of our best painters of birds and animals, 

 is convinced that a godwit can fly at a speed or 

 150 miles per hour; and Sir Ralph Payne Gallwey 

 reckons the flight of a teal as sometimes reaching 

 140 miles an hour. But it has been calculated that if 

 the godwit were flying at 150 miles an hour, it would 

 have to overcome a resistance of air equal to a pressure 

 of 1 1 2 Ib. per square foot, or considerably more than 

 the force of a hundred-mile hurricane. Other corre- 

 spondents give instances which leave little doubt that 

 shore birds do travel at speeds considerably above 

 50 miles an hour ; but as regards the flight of the 

 pigeon, some experiments carried out by the proprietors 

 of the Field many years ago leave little doubt that the 

 speed shown in the Shetland flight is normal. Twelve 

 records with the chronograph gave a highest speed to 

 the ' blue rock ' pigeon of from 33 to 38 miles an 

 hour. Pheasants and partridges were also subjected to 



