100 



The foregoing is a summary of the evidence upon which we 

 are asked to accept the statement that the Bluethroat during its 

 spring flight attains a speed equal to 180 miles an hour. On 

 p. 65 Herr Gatke writes as though he had actually witnessed 

 the performance of this feat, for he remarks : " This little bird 

 proved to be capable of flying during its migrations at the rate of 

 one hundred and eighty geographical miles an hour." 



This is not all, however, for the acceptance of the " broad 

 migration column " theory lands the reader in further difficulties 

 and requires certain flocks comprising other portions of the 

 flight to accomplish still higher velocities. 



If we merely take the north coast of Egypt as the starting 

 point of these migratory Bluethroats, and not Southern Egypt, 

 Nubia or Abysinnia, and bear in mind that according to the 

 theories and statements of the author, normal migration is 

 conducted when meteorological conditions are favourable, in one 

 unbroken flight from their winter quarters to their breeding 

 grounds in Northern Europe within the space of one short spring 

 night, it follows that if thousands occur on a little spot stated 

 to be in the track alone of the most western extension of the 

 migratory column, it also follows that east of this locality, 

 individuals should be travelling in equal abundance. Eoughly 

 speaking Heligoland is fifty miles from Schleswig Holstein and 

 from the east coast of the latter for a considerable distance in 

 the same direction the Baltic extends ; — a wide expanse of sea, 

 unbroken by islands forming convenient resting places. The 

 Bluethroats, therefore, comprising the corresponding portions 

 of the column, must necessarily fly still further and further before 

 they reach any locality on which they can alight. Moreover, we 

 are told the species only flies by night — setting out from Egypt 

 at dusk and landing at Heligoland an hour after sunrise. It 

 follows, therefore, that the more eastern sections of the flight 

 which have to travel the greater portion and in some cases the 

 whole length of the Baltic, must develop a speed more than 

 double that of their more fortunate companions in the west of the 

 column, though the latter have the least distance to accomplish. 

 It will be gathered too that in certain seasons the latter owing 

 to unfavourable conditions, do not themselves break their 



