292 SPORT INDEED 



But " to return to my mutton," which is brant, not 

 mahogany bureaus, I will now describe a sight that 

 will linger in my recollection as an exhibition of the 

 wonderful instinct and weather-wisdom of migrating 

 sea-fowl. 



For days strong nor'easters had blown fiercely, ac- 

 companied by snow, sleet, rain, thunder and lightning ; 

 and through these the brant could have made but lit- 

 tle headway had they tried to proceed on their jour- 

 ney northwards. But they didn't try. They knew 

 better than Old Probs what the weather was going to 

 be. There came a lull in the storm, a fog set in, and 

 the brant congregated in long columns, flapping their 

 wings and making the most deafening outcries. Our 

 guides said : " The birds are preparing to start. The 

 weather will settle by morning." But, after the fog, 

 came a furious gale with vivid flashes of lightning, 

 loud peals of thunder and a down-pouring of rain. 

 This condition of affairs lasted all night, and for once 

 our confidence in the brant's wisdom and judgment 

 was shaken. It need not have been. The next morn- 

 ing the sun arose bright and warm, with a southwest 

 wind, and away went the brant, flying northward. 

 First a series of swooping circles, rising higher and 

 higher in the air, a pause, and then off they go by the 

 thousands, in flocks of from three to five hundred, all 

 carefully marshalled and efficiently led by some old 

 gander who will allow his followers no rest for the 



