108 GEESE 



The flight is very distinctive, and the following description is con- 

 densed from an account by Nelson (1881): The strokes of the wings are 

 "short, energetic, and repeated with great rapidity, carrying the bird 

 with a velocity far greater than that attained by any other goose with 

 which I am acquainted .... The order of flight is invariably a single 

 rank, the birds moving side by side in a line at right angles to their 

 course so that the entire strength of a flock is to be seen at a glance along 

 its front, which at times covers several hundred yards. There is barely 

 room enough between the individuals to allow a free wing stroke .... 

 The entire flock, consisting of perhaps over a hundred birds arranged in 

 single line, is hurrying on, straight as an arrow, towards its destination, 

 when, without warning, it suddenly makes a wide curving detour of sev- 

 eral hundred yards, then resumes its original course only to frequently 

 repeat the maneuver, but always with such unison that the closest scru- 

 tiny fails to reveal the least break or irregularity in the line .... 



"In addition to this horizontal movement is a still more interesting 

 vertical one which often occurs at the same time as the other but gener- 

 ally by itself. A bird at either end of the flock rises or descends a few 

 inches or several feet, as the case may be, and the movement is instantly 

 followed in succession by every one of its companions till the extreme 

 bird is reached and the entire flock is on the new level .... These 

 latter changes are made so regularly and with such rapidity that the dis- 

 tance between the birds does not appear altered in the least .... The 

 Black Brant never wings its way far up in the sky, as many other geese 

 have the habit of doing, but keeps, as a rule, between 10 and 30 yards 

 above the ground, with more flocks below these limits than above them. 

 Another idiosyncrasy of this bird is its marked distaste for passing over 

 low ranges of hills which may cross its path .... So slight an obstacle 

 as this is enough to cause at least 95 per cent of the flocks to turn 

 abruptly from their path and pass along its base to round the end several 

 miles beyond, and then continue their passage." 



Describing how, after long months of winter inactivity, in northern 

 Alaska, his party awaited the spring arrival of the Black Brant, the same 

 writer says: ". . . . suddenly a harsh, gr-r-r-r, gr-r-r-r, gr-r-r-r causes 

 us to spring up, but too late, for, gliding away to the northward, the first 

 flock goes unscathed. After a few energetic remarks upon geese in gen- 

 eral and this flock in particular, we resume our position, but keep on the 

 alert to do honor to the next party. Soon, skimming along the horizon, 

 flock after flock is seen as they rise and hurry by on either side. Fortune 

 now favors us, and a large flock makes directly for the ambush, their 

 complicated and graceful evolutions leading vis to almost forget why we 

 are lying here upon our face in the bog with our teeth rattling a devil's 

 tattoo in the raw wind. On they come, only a few feet above the ground, 

 until, when 20 or 80 yards away, we suddenly rise upon one knee and 

 strike terror into the hearts of the unsuspecting victims. In place of the 



