The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1901-07-30
Swift Trnyelers.

We talk a great deal about the speed
Of our railway trains and of our ocean
greyhounds. but we are apt to over
look the fact that there are some swift
travellers whore no rails have ever
been laid and no steamship has
steered her course. The carrier pigeon
Will fly at least thirty miles an hour,
and some have been known to travel
at the rate of sixty or even ninety
miles an hour. Wild pigeons often fly
hundreds of miles day to feed, re-
turning to their roosts at night
Audubon says they travel a mile a
minute
Water-fowls, gulls. terms and petrels
literally fly on the wings of the wind,
If surprised In storm. They will rise
high in the air, facing a gale. and
making a little progress forward as
well as upward Then they will sud
denly descend with rapid fight to-
ward one side of the storm-swept path.
but falling of at the same time in the
direction of the blowing wind. Once
more they will sweep around and face
the storm. ascending heavenward. and
striking desperately out toward the
direction Of the storm. until finally
they work themselves to one side Of
the storm center.
During tremendous wind storms
birds may sometimes be seen flying
overhead at a great height When
this is noted It may be taken for
granted that the upper air is com
paratively quiet, and that the storm is
confined chiefly to the lower regions
1t is when the storm extends too high
up that they drift away with the wind.
or fly away on the edge of the hurri-
cane. Migrating birds fly over dis
tances so great that they must needs
have great strength as well as great
speed in flight. Bobolinks often rear
their young on the shores of Lake
Winnipeg, and like true aristocrats go
30 Cuba and Porto Rico to spend the
winter. To do this, their fight must
twice cover a distance OF more than
$500 miles, or more than a fifth of the
circumference Of our earth each year.
The little redstart travels 1000 miles
twice a year. What wonderful mech
anism il is that, in a stomach no larg-
err than a pea, will manufacture its
own fuel from two or three slim cater
pillars, iiy, moth. or a spider. and
use it with such economy as to be able
to propel itself through the air during
the whole night at a rate of about fifty
miles an hour, and at the same time
keep its own temperature at about 1O4
degrees Not all the swift travellers.
however. make their journeys through
the air. Some fish attain great speed
in the water. The salmon and the
swCrdfsh arc the fastest swimmers of
all tho forkcd-tai fishes. Only a fast
running horse could outstrip a salmon.
for II swims mile in less than two
minutes, and any horse could BIO left
behind IN a long race. for the fish
can cover thirty miles in an hour.
When lcisurely ascending rivers. with
frequent rests in attractive pools IL
averages from fifteen to twenty-five
miles a day. In leaping. the salmon
can easily beat the horse, for salmon
have leaped up waterfalls twelve feet
high, and he prepares for leap just
as a boy does, with a short. sharp run.
II tho water at the foot OF the dam or
fall Is not deep enough to allow this
preparatory run, he cannot jump
The Little Chronicle