40 
YA HONK ! 
an equable climate* Beside the recently advanced 
prairie railway a newly arrived flock from the south 
will crane their glossy black necks and display their 
broad, white throat-bands as the noisy locomotive 
charges past with its burden. The belching smoke 
is a hint to move another stage northward before 
disbanding to locate their summer homes. 
The picture of a passing flock is indelibly 
impressed. They flew conveniently low over the 
tortuous hills, the leader holding his place at the 
head of the broad “ V ” with nineteen aligned 
on his right, and twenty-five on his left. There was 
a magnificent aspect of determination in those forty- 
five necks strained rigidly forward toward the new 
home in the remote north. Calls of encouragement 
were frequently sounded and answered, and near the 
leader the steady flapping was varied by an occasional 
change of position. They passed so low that every 
distended pinion could be distinctly seen. Their 
heavy bodies and sturdy wings rapidly grew less 
distinct, and soon blended into a dark, wavy line 
against the low, thin clouds above the horizon. 
The sun was still high and the atmosphere clear. 
Their calls did not seem to grow faint as rapidly as 
their outlines diminished. Soon in the concealing 
distance they faded and reappeared until they could 
not be distinguished from the shaded edges of the 
horizon clouds. As their calls still came back fancy 
