they espy the advance of a suow-storm, when 

 the ganders with one accord sound the order for 

 their departure. 



"After many wide circlings, the flock has risen 

 high in the thin air, and an hour or more is 

 spent in teaching the young the order in which 

 they are to move. But now the host has been 

 marshaled, and off it starts. The old males 

 advance in front, the females follow, the young 

 come in succession according to their strength, 

 the weakest forming the rear. Should one feel 

 fatigued, his position is changed in the ranks, 

 and he assumes a place in the wake of another, 

 who cleaves the air before him ; perhaps the 

 parent bird flies for a while by his side to 

 encourage him." 



What meaning, and yet what mystery, that line 

 of winging geese has for us when we remember 

 all this ! The bare facts brought by the natu- 

 ralist are wonderful enough. But, besides the 

 naturalist, the poet also has watched that strange 

 winging wedge across the sky, and the facts are 

 forgotten in the deeper meaning, the deeper 

 mystery of his suggestions. Not the flight of the 

 birds themselves seems to me so perfect, so won- 

 [280] 



