30 BEYOND THE PASTURE BARS 



pleasing as the thought of this family life gan- 

 der, goose, and goslings a united family even 

 while mingling with others as part of some large 

 flock. Every wedge of wild geese that flies trum- 

 peting overhead in the autumn is either a family, 

 or a neighborhood of families, led by some strong 

 old gander. 



The great event in the goose calendar is this 

 autumn flight. The life of all the rest of the year 

 seems to be a getting ready for this. They must 

 fly south in order to find food and to' escape the 

 deadly cold, but they must take the flight because 

 of its own sake now, for it has become a fever in 

 their bones. 



For weeks previous to the departure, restless- 

 ness and strange desires possess the birds. It is 

 the flight-fever, the fever for a flight a mile high, 

 for a thousand miles, past the snowy landscapes 

 to a new green world! 



The love of it is far more than the desire for 

 food. Next to the need of mate and offspring 

 is the need for this flight. It is not a desire of 

 the flesh, but of the spirit. Food does not fail 

 in the farm-yard; yet the tame Canada geese, 

 when the nights grow crisp and the wild flocks go 

 honking over, will scream and run and flap their 



