Another postulate favoring the high-altitude flying theory was that the wonderful vision of birds was their sole guidance during migratory flights; and to keep landmarks in view the birds were obliged to fly high, particularly when crossing wide areas of water. This will be considered in greater detail under Orientation (p. 23), so here it will be sufficient to say that birds rely only in part upon vision to guide them on migration. Also, it is to be remembered that there are definite physical limitations to the range of visibility even under perfect atmospheric conditions. Chief of these is the curvature of the earth's surface. Thus, if birds flew over the Gulf of Mexico to Louisiana and Florida at a height of 5 miles, they would still be unable to see a third of the way across. And yet this trip is made twice each year by thousands of thrushes, warblers, and others. Actual knowledge of the altitude of migratory flight is scanty, though estimates obtained by means of the telescope, and still more accurate data resulting from altimeter observation from airplanes, are slowly accumulating. It is, of course, obvious that some birds that cross mountain ranges during migration must attain a great altitude. Observers at an altitude of 14,000 feet in the Himalayas have recorded storks and cranes flying so high that they could be seen only through field glasses. Being beyond the range of unaided vision they must have been at least 6,000 feet above the observers, or at an actual altitude of 20,000 feet above sea level. Such cases, however, are exceptional, as aviators have reported that they rarely meet birds above an altitude of 5,000 feet. It is now known that migration in general is performed below an altitude of 3,000 feet. Some proof of this statement is available. Observations made from lighthouses and other points of vantage indicate that migrants commonly travel at altitudes of a very few feet to a few hundred feet above sea or land. Sandpipers, sanderlings (_Crocethia alba_), and northern phalaropes (_Lobipes lobatus_), observed in migration on the Pacific oceanic route, have been noted to fly so low that they were visible only as they topped a wave. Observers stationed at lighthouses and lightships off the English coast have similarly recorded the passage of land birds, which sometimes flew just above the surface of the water, and rarely above 200 feet. During the World War broad areas in the air were under constant close surveillance, and among the airplane pilots and observers many took more than a casual interest in birds. Of the several hundred records resulting from their observations only 36 were of birds flying above 5,000 feet, and only 7 above 8,500 feet. Cranes were once recorded at an altitude of 15,000 feet, while the lapwing (_Vanellus vanellus_) was the bird most frequently seen at high levels, 8,500 feet being its greatest recorded altitude.