82 KNOWING BIRDS THROUGH STORIES 



about until they were so high that they were almost out of 

 eight and then the leader gave the signal and started north 

 again, and before they had gone a hundred yards all had 

 fallen into line. Every bird seemed to know his place 

 and promptly flew directly to it. Sandhill cranes, for 

 this is what these birds were, usually fly in a V-shaped 

 line, but it differs from that of the Canadian wild goose in 

 that one side of the line is very long and the other very 

 short. Some wise old bird, usually a gander, flies at the 

 point of the V and usually no more than two or three fall 

 in almost directly behind him. The others form a long 

 line sloping back at angle of about forty-five degrees. 



When these birds are going south in the fall, especially 

 if they have been surprized by an unusually cold spell, 

 they fly rapidly, often going two or three miles before cir- 

 cling, but they never fly long distances without circling, as 

 they gradually fall toward the earth when flying straight 

 ahead. In the spring time especially, if the weather is 

 warm and they come north early and so are in no hurry to 

 reach their nesting place, they circle very often and tHen 

 merely sail between times. In the spring I have watched 

 sandhill cranes for twenty minutes or more from the time 

 they came in sight on the southern horizon until they faded 

 out in the north, whereas on a cold fall day they would 

 cover the same distance in half this time. I do not think 

 it is because these birds can fly better in cold weather but 

 merely because they are in a hurry then and so do their 

 best. 



When I was a boy thousands of these birds passed over 

 our place every fall and spring. They do not migrate 

 early in the season, and so we always regarded it as a sure 

 sign that we would have no more cold weather when we 



