312 LEWIS'S AMERICAN SPORTSMAN. 



to have arrived at such a distance from the rice-plantations even 

 before its last meal was digested. Still further to elucidate this 

 subject, we will mention another well-authenticated circumstance 

 that has already been referred to by more than one writer. It 

 is stated that a falcon belonging to Henry the Fourth, King of 

 France, escaped from Fontainebleau, and was captured again at 

 Malta, a distance of nearly fourteen hundred miles, in less than 

 twenty-four hours from the time of its liberation from its former 

 prison. Now, if we suppose this bird to have been in motion 

 during the whole of the time intervening between its escape from 

 Fontainebleau and its recapture at Malta, the rate at which it 

 travelled would exceed sixty miles an hour. This supposition, 

 however, is neither correct nor rational, as this species of bird 

 never flies in the night ; and we must therefore grant it the hours 

 of darkness for repose, and calculate the actual velocity of flight 

 accordingly. Allow, therefore, that the falcon enjoyed eighteen 

 hours of light, which is more than a fair proportion of the time in 

 opposition to our argument, and also grant that the bird was seen 

 the moment of its arrival at Malta, which is also somewhat impro- 

 bable, the speed with which it must have flown is equal to eighty 

 miles an hour, or within a fraction of that amount. 



