Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 151, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 July 1917 — Some Birds Are “Sprinters.” [ARTICLE]

Some Birds Are “Sprinters.”

Birds with short, square wings, like the king bird, quail and ruffled grouse, aYe sprinters; those with a wide stretch of wings are “distance runners.” Birds of the first class attain their bursts of speed through their very rapid wing stroke; birds of the second class have sustained powers of flight, but get under way more slowly. All the gallinaceous fowl are sprinters. They take wing like a bullet; their wings make a loud, whirring sound. The quail or ruffled grouse can gain full momentum within sixty feet of rising; the wings beat from five to seven times a second. The quail covers from forty-five to fifty feet the first second away from the gun; his wings flash like a rapidly revolving wheel. The wings of the ruffled grouse roar until the sound can be heard 200 yards away.