304 ADVENTURES AMONG BIRDS 



down and shot out his snake-like head and neck at 

 him. If my binocular had been able to catch the 

 sound as well as the sight, it would have conveyed to 

 me, too, the angry snake-like hiss which accompanied 

 the threatening gesture. And each time this gesture 

 was made the crow hopped away a little space, only 

 to begin walking and hopping round the goose again 

 until he had satisfied his impudent curiosity, where- 

 upon he flew off towards his roosting-place. 



Then, after a few minutes, from a great way off in 

 the sky came the sounds of approaching geese, and 

 the wounded bird turned his breast towards the land 

 and stood with head held high to listen to and see 

 his fellows returning uninjured with crops full of 

 corn, boisterous in their happiness, to the roosting- 

 place. The sound grew louder, and presently the 

 birds appeared, not in a compact body, but in three 

 single lines or skeins of immense length, while be- 

 tween these widely separated lines were many groups 

 or gaggles of a dozen to forty or fifty birds arranged 

 in phalanx form. 



I had been witnessing this evening return of the 

 geese for a fortnight, but never, as now, united in one 

 vast flock, numbering at the least four thousand birds, 

 the skeins extending over the sky for a length of 

 about a third of a mile. Nor had the conditions ever 

 been so favourable; the evenings had been clouded 

 and it was often growing dark when they appeared. 

 On this occasion the heavens were without a cloud 

 or stain and the sun still above the horizon. I could 

 see it from the flat marsh like a great crimson globe 



