84 Proceedings of Indiana Academy of Science. 
quite common in that vicinity every spring. It certainly marked tl 
spring migration as one of unusual interest. 
But the limit of swan flocks had not been reached in the spring migration. 
On the first day of Noyember I saw a most wonderful flight of swans. 
First there came a distant chorus of swan notes so vast in volume that it 
reached my ears some moments before the flock came into sight. The birds 
were flying very high. Words are totally inadequate to describe the grandeur 
and glory of that most wonderful flock. Heading it and stretching ap- 
parently almost across the width of Belle Isle where it is about half a 
mile wide, was a line of fully 300 birds swinging majestically along in 
great erescent formation followed by a similar line broken, however, near 
the center where there was a considerable space vacant and followed by 
smaller groups and birds flying singly and in twees and threes. Using my 
field glasses I noted that what seemed to be a mere jumble of birds in the 
vanguard was really a most orderly grouping of symmetrical units, all 
spaced and iined according to the most approved swan rules. Off to one 
side one great pure white bird flew along in grand style uttering his 
“honk, honk” in true basso profundo. He was of the flock yet not in it 
and I wondered if he was an outlaw who had determined to remain by 
the flock until he had obtained, if not the leadership, at least a respectable 
following. In its entirity the flock seemed to be composed about equally 
of old and young, birds in the grey plumage of the spring hatch and old 
pure white birds being intermingled. 2 
This flock, apparently in full migration, swept on like a stupendous 
squadron of aeroplanes. Many of the birds were honking and in ensemble 
there was the same predominance of the higher notes as observed in the 
smaller flocks. They had come, perhaps. from the regions north of Lake 
Superior and would not stop until the Monroe Marshes in Lake Brie 
would be reached where breakfast would be served. 
The most conspicuous fact in the flight of migrating swans is their 
unchanging lines. In the flight of Canada Geese every one has seen first 
one strenuous old gander and then another lead the flock, the leadership 
apparently going to the best man, while the remainder of the flock sway 
and change from long V-shape to short V-shape: or, for a time all fly in 
“company front”. The swans seem to assemble in unchanging formation 
without fluctuations even among the lesser units. This statement is 
subject to modification but in all the flocks that IT have yet seen it holds 
good. Even when the birds are startled when feeding and rise quickly 
they assume almost instantly the long slanting line or the wedge-shaped 
formation, each bird taking its position without confusion. It is just like 
a street parade in which every one knows exactly where he is to be and 
takes his position without ado: however, in the case of the swans it is done 
more expeditiously. The reason for the uniform spacing and divergent 
lines may be that each individual must have an unobstructed outlook and 
flying in this fashion it is always obtained. 
The spring migration this year was about like that of last year in num- 
bers and duration, although some few birds had remained on the Detroit 
River all winter and had become so tame that they came up to the yard 
of the residence of a man in Wyandotte Heights for the food that he threw 
