THE TIDE HAS TURNED 357 
maybe they had been resting somewhere. They do stop 
in fall sometimes, but in spring they generally go right over 
ina big hurry. This time I could see their feathers pretty 
well, black, gray, and light underneath, and a white mark 
around the neck as if it was tied up for a sore throat. 
Grandpa says he shot one once that was a yard long, but 
their necks looked all of that. How far away do they 
have to go before they can stop to nest, please, Gray 
Lady ?” 
“They nest only in our most northern states, and from 
there up through British America; but as the country is 
settled they have to shift their haunts very often, for 
you can well imagine that a colony, even in the nesting 
season, would have but little peace if hunters could reach 
it easily. These great birds on their journeys are one of 
the most thrilling sights that everyday people can see, 
for they travel the thousands of miles that separate their 
summer and winter homes, straight through the night as 
well as the day, without chart or compass, but with the 
same lack of fear and unfailing directness as a train would 
follow the rails upon the road-bed. 
‘We hear and read stories of Nature that are inventions, 
and could not have happened because they are not accord- 
ing to the plan of creation, —so the people who tell these 
instead of being clever are really very stupid, —but not 
one of these is as wonderful as the simple truth, or 
as awe-inspiring as the flight of Wild Geese that goes 
on before our sight year after year in the April sky, 
or that we know by their cries and the rush of wings 
is passing overhead in the gloom of a wild and stormy 
night. 
