56 NOTES ON NEW ENGLAND BIRDS 



looking up, see going over the river, within fifty rods, 

 thirty-two geese in the form of a hay-hook, only two in 

 the hook, and they are at least six feet apart. Probably 

 the whole line is twelve rods long. At least three hun- 

 dred have passed over Concord, or rather within the 

 breadth of a mile, this spring (perhaps twice as many) ; 

 for I have seen or heard of a dozen flocks, and the two 

 I counted had about thirty each. 



Nov. 13, 1855. In mid-forenoon (10.45), seventy or 

 eighty geese, in three harrows successively smaller, fly- 

 ing southwest — pretty well west — over the house. A 

 completely overcast, occasionally drizzling forenoon. I 

 at once heard their clangor and rushed to and opened 

 the window. The three harrows were gradually formed 

 into one great one before they were out of sight, the 

 geese shifting their places without slacking their pro- 

 gress. 



Nov. 19, 1855. Speaking of geese, he l says that Dr. 

 Hurd told a tough story once. He said that when he 

 went out to the well there came a flock of geese flying 

 so low that they had to rise to clear the well-sweep. 

 M. says that there used to be a great many more geese 

 formerly ; he used to hear a great many flocks in a day 

 go "yelling" over. Brant, too, he used to see. 



Dec. 13, 1855. Sanborn 2 tells me that he was waked up 

 a few nights ago in Boston, about midnight, by the sound 

 of a flock of geese passing over the city, probably about 

 the same night I heard them here. They go honking 

 over cities where the arts flourish, waking the inhabit- 



1 [George Minott.] 



2 [Mr. F. B. Sanborn of Concord, Thoreau's biographer.] 



