The falconer has certainly more and better opportunities of seeing birds flying at their maximum rate of speed than any one else. “He also has,” to use Captain Portal’s words, “the advantage of possessing in his trained hawk a known quantity with which to compare the performances of other birds.”
Captain Portal has flown hawks at many different kinds of birds during the last fifteen years, and has made certain estimates which have been arrived at after a great deal of comparison and analysis of data obtained while hawking, shooting, flying in aeroplanes, travelling in cars and trains, and walking in the country. He says:[10] “My figures cannot be correct for every member of each species, as I have seen one partridge in an October covey fly quite 15 per cent faster than any of its companions when all were at full speed. All I have tried to do is to strike an average for the species, the speed given being the maximum pace at which the bird can cover the ground in level flight through still air.”
The speeds given for the peregrine and merlin are those of good trained birds; the wild ones are faster. Here are the figures:
Golden Plover 70 miles per hour. Teal and Blackcock 68 ” ” Peregrine 62 ” ” Pheasant and Grouse 60 ” ” Mallard 58 ” ” Merlin and Blue Rock 55 ” ” Partridge 53 ” ” Green Plover } Jackdaw } 48 ” ” Wood Pigeon 45 ” ” Starling 44 ” ” Kestrel 43 ” ” Rook 40 ” ” Landrail 35 ” ”
The speed attained by golden plover when pressed has been estimated by airmen at over 60 miles per hour.[11]
Colonel R. Meinertzhagen, from whom I have also quoted above, states that he finds, “after eliminating abnormal conditions and observations based on meagre evidence, that the normal and migratory flight in miles per hour (ground speed) is as follows:
Ducks 44-59 Geese 42-55 Waders 34-51 (but mostly from 40 to 51) Starlings 38-49 Falcons 40-48 Corvidae 31-45 Tame Pigeons 30-36 The smaller Passeres 20-37”
Amongst the birds which are claimed by different high authorities to be the fastest British birds are the swift, the peregrine, the golden plover, the teal, the wild duck, and the curlew.
It is curious that in the various controversies on the subject no one appears to have contended that the golden eagle may possibly be the fastest flier amongst British birds. This may be because, except in certain parts of the country, the eagle is never seen, and there is necessarily very little opportunity of comparing his speed with that of other birds. In particular the falconer, whose opportunities of comparing the speed of birds are, as I have already stated, greater than those of any other class of men, has no opportunities in the case of the eagle. Moreover, the flight of the eagle, like that of some of the fastest flying birds, for instance, the blackcock, is very deceptive. He is in fact flying much faster than he appears to be--“The eagle’s flight, when passing from one point to another, is peculiarly expressive of strength and vigour. He wends his way with deliberate strong strokes of his powerful wing, every stroke apparently drawing him on a considerable distance, and in this manner advancing through the air as rapidly as the pigeon or any other bird which may appear to fly much more quickly.”[12]