Salt Lake Tribune | 1915-12-23 | Page 6 | Birds Hold Air Records

Birds Hold Air Records Although of recent years aviation has made such tremendous strides, the feats of present-day aviators cannot be com pared with thorn of nature s jTUers the bird a. in speed, endurance lifting and sighting power blras beat aviators every time A common swaUo for Instance, can travel In the air at the rate of IM mlleat en hour The vulture when swooping on Its prey ruts through the atmosphere at nearly ISO miles an hour Some time ago a swallow flew from Antwerp to Compelgse. a distance of 140 mllee. In is" minutes, the flight being timed by observers, who returned the bird s average rate of speed at lit mllea an hour The fastest en aeroplane has ever trav led la tot miles an hour and this speed was only obtained by building little freak machine terribly dangerous to handle. Then, again, birds ran fly for twenty four hours st a stretch without descend Ing even in boisterous weather After eight or nine hours ronrlBued flying an aviator Is wearied both mcntallr and bodily and If he had strona wind a to fight, he is often Id a state of collapse col-lapse No filer could carrr out long nights arross sea and land Uke rurkooa, for In stance, which any natnrmlMH win tell you, often start from English shores and find tbelr iray to Africa At a height of IS so fael the earth la detail la most difficult for an arts lor to see and It la only with strona gjaseea that he rsn discern even large buMlan and rivers. But at high altitude, hawks and kites ran spy tiny Basrds and rieM mire on the earth, for their algh liner powers an twenty times stronser then those o( sviatora.