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Show SWIFTER THAN THE PIGEON. Swallow Easily Outdistances Companions Compan-ions in Flight Between Com-piegne Com-piegne and Antwerp. A citizen of Antwerp has put to a. test the celerity and homing instinct of the swallow as compared with pigeons, a London correspondent of the New York Sun says. He caught a swallow In Its nest under his roof at Antwerp, made a red mark on its feathers and sent the bird with a consignment con-signment of 250 carrier pigeons by train to Compiegne, in northern-France, northern-France, a distance of 147 miles. The birds were released there simultaneously sim-ultaneously at 7:15 the next morning. The swallow without the slightest hesitation hes-itation made for the north and dis-peared dis-peared like a flash. The pigeons circled cir-cled laboriously around before decidV ing which direction they should take. The swallow reached its nest la. Antwerp in 67 minutes, while the pigeons took four hours and seven, minutes to cover the distance. iBi other words, the messenger of spring flew at the rate of nearly 132 miles an hour, while the speed of the pigeons only slightly exceeded 35 miles an hour. ' |
