THE WILD GOOSE 115 



possible fatigue what does the bird do, especially the 

 crane, heron, stork, and other wading birds en- 

 cumbered with long legs and a long neck? They 

 bring the neck back on the breast, point their sharp 

 beak forward, and, holding their outstretched legs 

 close together, trail them behind. With form thus 

 trimmed to extreme slimness, and with beak acting 

 as the point of a spear-head, they cleave the air as 

 a ship plows the wave with its sharp prow. No bird 

 is wanting in this elementary principle of mechanics : 

 to gather the members together and taper the body 

 in the direction of motion, so as to encounter the 

 least resistance. By undertaking these very long 

 flights in large flocks the duck and the goose improve 

 upon this general method. 



"Before going further let us draw a compari- 

 son. I will suppose that you are a company of play- 

 mates running across lots, and you come to a tract 

 all covered with thick brushwood that has to be 

 parted with feet and hands before you can get 

 through. If each one goes about it in his own way, 

 one here and another there just as it happens, is it 

 not true that the sum total of fatigue for the whole 

 company will be the greatest possible, since each one 

 will have spent his strength in opening a way for 

 himself through the thicket? But now let us sup- 

 pose, on the other hand, that one of you, the most 

 vigorous of the company, walks at the head, parting 

 the underbrush, and that the others follow him, step 

 by step, taking advantage of the path opened by the 



