68 



THE 00L0GIS1 



no other of the understood senses are 

 brought into use here. There are others; 

 dozens, perhaps hundreds of senses. 

 which are undefined and unappreciated 

 with us, and upon which it is idle to 

 speculate as yet. Therefore, although 

 I know nothing in regard to man's 

 method rf atrial navigation and cannot 

 add anything to the subject, I am sin- 

 cere in saying that it is idle to discuss 

 the movements of birds in the air with 

 a view to explaining man's system of 

 "the mechanics of flight." 



Grebes and Divers move their wings 

 regularly, the former very rapidly and 

 the larger loons much slower. There 

 is the least effort at fancy flight among 

 these birds of any of my acquaintance. 

 The long-winged swimmers, as the 

 Gulls and Terns are called, are exactly 

 the opposite of the Grebes, and seem to 

 care nothing for the waste of time, or 

 distance travelled. They sail, soar, 

 plunge and fly straight away if need be. 

 It is a beautiful sight to watch a flock 

 of Terns as they skim the surface of the 

 water or dash about, now high in air, 

 and again plunging to the crest of a 

 wave for a scrap of food or in sport. 

 The Pelicans and Cormorants fly in a 

 straight line, and their flight when un- 

 disturbed is a series of flips, followed 

 by a sail; more particularly noticable in 

 the Cormorants; and I have seen the 

 Florida Cormorant fly great distances 

 in this alternate fashion. 



Ducks nearly all fly in a straight line, 

 rarely veering unless scared, and all 

 move with a fluttering movement of 

 the wings, more rapid than in any other 

 class of birds that I know of, unless we 

 except the Hummers. A few species, 

 as the tin-tail and Gadwail will plunge 

 and perform curious gyrations in the 

 air at times, but as a rule the ducks fly 

 for a purpose and waste no time in 

 evolutions if the coast is clear. In 

 migrations most ducks fly at a great 

 height when the stops are far between, 

 but in moving from lake to lake in the 



autumn they only gauge their position 

 to evade the shooters, and I have seen 

 thousands of flocks fly over just out of 

 range of the guns. 



Wild geese mostly fly in a set form, 

 generally described as the shape of a 

 letter V, with the point to the front. 

 Some geese, as the Snow Goose, at 

 times fly in irregular, straggling flocks. 

 The Canada Goose is the best example 

 of a system in flying. The birds start 

 up from a field or lake irregularly, but 

 they quickly form, and if fired into will 

 again return to the V shape. The birds 

 have a leader, or pace-maker as the 

 position is called at the present day, 

 and this position of pace-maker is suc- 

 cessively held by all the birds, or at 

 least by different ones successively, as I 

 have repeatedly observed. Th's change 

 in pace-makers is evidently with mutual 

 understanding, and is at once likened 

 to the act in the case of a group of 

 racers on the bicycle track. However 

 the birds, unlike the bicycle racers, 

 never follow directly behind but are 

 nicely spread out and are always ready 

 for a spurt, so-to-speak. An unob- 

 structed course for them in the whole 

 country. They are not confined in 

 their range and are in no danger of a 

 mix-up in their flight. Truly they re- 

 call the lines: 

 "No pent up Utica contracts our 



powers; 

 But tbe whole boundless continent is 



ours." 



The Swans are slow fliers; always 

 ranging into regular position and lining 

 out at equal distances from one another. 

 They rise into the air from the lake and 

 move off in a ponderous manner, and 

 in appearance may be likened to a 

 train of towed barges. Siowly risirg 

 to an immense height they move grace- 

 fully and in a straight line, and never a 

 sound is uttered, at least by the 

 Whistl ing Swan , which I have observed . 



The Herons are ponderous fli ers 

 and are not capable of sudden change 

 of speed or course. I have seen Least 



