survived the shock." A few individuals 

 did survive, however, and among them 

 was our venerable friend, the wild goose. 

 Having now finished the prefatory por- 

 tion of our story, the reader will be bet- 

 ter able to understand what may follow. 



There is somethin.o: wonderful, a con- 

 ception, indeed, which smacks little short 

 of the sublime in contemplating the pro- 

 tracted journeyings of the larger aquatic 

 Thirds of passage. Especially is this true 

 of the American wild goose, the brant 

 and the swan. The brant is the wild 

 goose of Great Britain and continental 

 Europe; a much smaller bird than his 

 American relative ; and its migrations are 

 of comparatively short range. 



The European domesticated swan, re- 

 mains, of course, the year round in the 

 country of his adoption. 



Not so, however, with the American 

 goose and swan. Both the former, An- 

 seres hiperboreas, and the latter, Cygnus 

 buccinator, rear their young in the Arctic 

 regions and spend the succeeding winter 

 with their offspring in the Gulf States 

 and Central America. 



Think of these magnificent birds, those 

 on the Pacific coast flying from the 

 shores of the Arctic ocean in northern 

 Alaska and British America, crossing the 

 Rocky Mountains, and, after a journey 

 of four or five thousand miles, compla- 

 cently settling down in Texas, Mexico, 

 Yucutan, or Nicaragua, as the experi- 

 enced leaders may determine. Then turn 

 to those on the Atlantic side of the con- 

 tinent and watch them as they leave the 

 Baffin's Bay country, cross the great 

 lakes and the Appalachian mountain sys- 

 tem to make a short winter sojourn 

 among the everglades of southern Flor- 

 ida. 



In the tactics of these great birds while 

 performing their immense journeys there 

 is something remarkable even to the cas- 

 ual observer. More than two thousand 

 years ago it was recorded by a student 

 of natural history that, ''Olores iter 

 facientes coUa imponunt praecedentibus ; 

 fessos duces ad terga recipiunt." 



"Swans performing a journey rest 

 ^cheir necks upon those preceding; and 

 the leaders receive the weary ones upon 

 their backs." 



And this significant remark has often 

 iDcen confirmed bv modern observation. 



Owing to the fact that they are more 

 sparsely distributed, that they fly much 

 higher and in smaller numbers than wild 

 geese, the swans arc comparatively sel- 

 dom seen during their migratory flights 

 save in the fastnesses of mountainous 

 districts or at the extreme points of ar- 

 rival and departure. Hence we see why 

 so little is known concerning the details 

 of their aerial movements. 



On the contrary, the semi-annual pas- 

 sage of wild geese is not only a folk-lore 

 phenomenon, but a familiar spectacle to 

 the residents of cities and towns as well 

 as those who spend their days in the 

 rural districts. Now, there is more mili- 

 tary precision in the alignment of a large 

 flock of wild geese than the most careful 

 observer ever dreamed of or science in- 

 vestigated. 



Here in the fastnesses of our Rocky 

 Mountains there are many exceptionally 

 good opportunities for watching the mar- 

 velous evolutions of these birds. 



While their flight may be a mile high 

 or more when spanning a level scope of 

 country, as in the prairie districts, they 

 barely clear the more elevated peaks 

 while crossing lofty mountain ranges. 

 Hence it will be seen that an observer on 

 either slope is much nearer the passing 

 birds than an inhabitant of the lower 

 levels or plains. 



The well known acute angled form 

 assumed by wild geese in their annual 

 journeys is not a inci'2 fortuitous conceit 

 on the part of the birds, but a true pat- 

 tern of that diagram formulated by the 

 anserine leaders of long agone prehis- 

 toric ages ; brave old heroes that piloted 

 their snowy hosts over the storm-lashed 

 wastes of northern latitudes while frost 

 and fire and glacier and drift were so 

 radically changing the topography of 

 our globe. 



It can be shown that this particular 

 form of alignment in the flight of geese 

 is just as essential to the convenience 

 and vital interests of the birds as the 

 hexagonal form of honeycomb cells is 

 to the bees that construct and fill them 

 with honey. Nay, it is also true that no 

 other form of alignment in flight could 

 fulfill the conditions required; but we 

 cannot heie explain the principles in- 

 volved in the interesting discussion. 

 L. Philo Venen. 



169 



