RAPIDITY OF FLIGHT. 
73 
at particular times of the year, it is necessary to say a little 
on the speed with which they can pass through the air, and 
their capacity for continuing on the wing without being 
fatigued. Few people, we believe, are aware of the very 
great rapidity of a bird’s flight, and many will doubtless he 
surprised when they are informed, that even our slower birds 
can most of them make their way at the rate of thirty 
miles an hour, without any extraordinary effort; but that, if 
pressed, they can considerably exceed that speed. There is 
an easy way of ascertaining with tolerable accuracy the rate 
of a bird’s flight, which from experience we can recommend 
as equally amusing and interesting. It is this: — 
Suppose any bird, a Partridge, for instance, rises in the 
middle of a stubble, and flies in a straight line over a hedge; 
all the observer has to do is to note by the seconds hand 
of a watch (and those who not have seconds-hand watches 
may easily learn, at least sufficiently for practical purposes, to 
count them), the number of seconds between the moment 
of the bird’s rising and that of its topping the hedge ; and 
then ascertain the distance between the point from whence 
it rose and the hedge by stepping and counting the 
number of paces ; when, supposing each pace to be a yard, 
we have a common Eule of Three sum. Thus, if a 
Partridge, in three seconds, flies one hundred yards, how 
many yards will it fly in 3600 seconds, or one hour ? or 
seconds yards seconds 
as 3 : 100 : : 3600: the number of yards required, 
which will he — 6 Q* 0 * 1 0 0 or 120,000 yards, which will 
amount to (as there are 1760 yards in a mile) about sixty 
miles an hour. 
Again, suppose some Starlings are seen feeding in a 
field at a, at no great distance from a church tower, B c, 
in which they are building ; or a Crow flies from a certain 
spot to the top of a tree ; we may proceed in the same 
manner : for the height of the tower or tree will, in most 
cases, be too inconsiderable to make any material alteration 
in the result, though, if greater accuracy is required, it may 
