214 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Feb. ii, 1911. 
pine woods the next evening as the shadows 
were growing long, one might have seen figures 
here and there busily raking up fragrant pine 
straw to fill in the space behind cots in the big 
tent. The task of gathering sufficient pine 
straw proved too exhausing, so the cots were 
lowered to meet the need of each special in¬ 
dividual or I should have said, to meet the pine 
straw beneath. 
It is impossible to relate more than a few in¬ 
cidents of our fifteen days’ hunt. Anyway there 
came a time when our camp must break up and 
pass into history as do all earthly events. We 
did not make a sudden break, but melted away, 
a few going each day until nothing was left but 
a worn place on the face of Mother Earth and a 
pile of lightwood knots unburnt. 
Our last day’s hunt stood out as prominently 
for emptiness as did our first day s for marvel¬ 
ous success; in fact we returned lighter than 
we went out, for our shells had been wasted on 
the desert air. 
Some of our men were so reluctant to leave 
the scene that had afforded such a wealth of 
sport that, when the train began to move, they 
made one desperate dash for it, leaving their 
baggage behind to be looked after by Tom, 
Dick and Harry. It appeared in a few days, 
but soiled and in bad shape, as the packers in 
their haste to accommodate us had driven nails 
through some of our best agateware. But never 
mind, there is more agateware in the stores 
waiting to go on our camping trip another sea- 
gQj-j Coy C. Jordan. 
New Publications. 
Lives of the Fur Folk, by M. D. Haviland. 
Cloth, 234 pages, illustrated, $1.35 net. New 
York, Longmans, Green & Co. 
A series of stories of wild animals and some 
others, pleasingly told. The style is familiar, 
though the local color is not, for it is of British 
foxes, rabbits, badgers, dogs and cats that the 
author treats. But we all, particularly little folks, 
never tire of the cute tricks of Reynard, and a 
truthful record of his life might be stranger 
than fiction. The pen and ink marginal sketches 
by E. Caldwell lend charm to the volume. 
Auction Bridge Up-to-Date, by W. Dalton. 
Cloth, 210 pages. New York, Wycil & Co. 
A handy manual containing the laws of auc¬ 
tion bridge, as framed by a joint committee of 
the Portland and Bath clubs, and approved and 
adopted by the former. 
Books Received : “The Grand Canon of Ari¬ 
zona, by George Wharton James; Boston, Little, 
Brown & Co. “The River and I,” by John G. 
Neihardt; New York, Putnam’s. “Fly Leaves 
From a Fisherman’s Diary,” by Capt. G. E. 
Sharp; New York, Longmans, Green & Co. 
“The American Shotgun,” by Charles Askins; 
New York, Outing Publishing Co. “Twenty 
Years in the Himalaya,” by Major C. Q. Bruce; 
New York, Longmans, Green & Co. “Under 
the Roof of the Jungle,” by C. L. Bull; Boston, 
L. C. Page & Co. “With Gun and Guide,” by 
Thomas Martindale; Philadelphia, G. W. Jacobs 
& Co. “Unexplored Spain,” by Abel Chapman 
and W. J. Buck; New York, Longmans, Green 
& Co. 
The Flight of Wild Geese. 
French Lick, Ind., Jan. 29. —Editor Forest and 
Stream: I have just been reading Sandy Gris¬ 
wold’s article speculating on the flight of wild 
geese, and the reason they fly in a V formation. 
I always assumed the reason to be that this for¬ 
mation seems the very best for the long flights 
which these heavy birds make in their migra¬ 
tions. 
For years I lived in the Red River Valley, in 
North Dakota, where I had abundant oppor¬ 
tunity to speculate on the points as Sandy Gris¬ 
wold speculates on them. It seems certain to 
me from observations that the leader of the 
flock not only leads the way but acts as the 
principal force on the cleaving triangle, and I 
have seen the leader, apparently worn out, drop 
back, to be relieved by some other bird from the 
lines. The leader of the flock being in the 
front, at the apex of the V, acting as pathmaker 
through the air, would have the hardest task; 
hence the changing about in the leading of the 
flock. It seems much the same as in making 
trail through the snow on snow shoes, or pace 
making of any sort. The work of the one in 
front is the most fatiguing and the logical way 
is to change about for the sake of resting up. 
In flying in a V formation with an adverse 
wind one side of the triangle would also break 
the wind for the birds in the other side. 
I agree with those who hold to the theory 
that geese direct their course by the topography 
of the country, traveling more by sight than by 
instinct. 
Migrating at night and during stormy weather 
their flight is nearer the earth, so that they 
may see the land over which they are passing. 
But I do not agree that in “heavy fogs and 
blinding storms” they hold their way with un¬ 
erring certainty. I have known geese to be so 
confused by fogs and snow storms as to alight 
on the ground, which they would not otherwise 
do, unless on feeding grounds. In cases of 
heavy storms they might alight on the ground 
in a pinch to avoid the storm, but since they 
will often do it in fogs, with no feed near, it 
seems certain to me that geese do become con¬ 
fused and lose their bearings when they cannot 
see the lay of the land. Dixmont. 
New York City, Feb. 4 .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: Sandy Griswold’s comments on the 
flight of geese interested me, for I, too, while 
lying in blinds, have often speculated on their 
wedge-like flight. 
One thing which impressed me strongly was 
the “conversation” between the leader and other 
members of the wedge, and on listening to this 
I have often felt convinced that the leader was 
seeking and one or more of his followers giving 
advice. I have noticed this time and again and 
just before the leader changed his course. 
Knowing the country over which they were 
flying, and the location of the blinds, I have 
often, on watching the approach of a flock, 
made up my mind as to the direction they 
would take at a certain point, and frequently 
their actions confirmed my guess. I have been 
on the sandbars at times when I knew positively 
no other hunter was within miles of me, yet at 
such times I have seen geese sheer off and rise 
after one of these “talks”; then, as if in proof 
that my presence had nothing to do with their 
actions, come to my profile decoys and lose one 
or two of their number to my gun. 
When the V formation becomes ragged, as it 
often does, there is a good deal of scolding 
from leader and flankers, while the laggard, re¬ 
plies with spirit, as though saying he is tired 
and cannot keep rank. The further he drops 
behind, the more insistent his clamor for the 
others to wait for him. A lone goose, flying 
a mile behind his fellows, is often an easy mark. 
He always appears to me to have worried over 
his inability to keep up until he loses most of 
his natural caution. And a “lost goose, as the 
Missouri River shooters call a stray, is one 
of the most foolish of creatures. Frequently, 
if he flies over your decoys and you pepper 
him, he will come back from another direction 
ere long and give you another shot. On one 
occasion I walked right up to a goose sitting 
on a sandbar. The setting sun was shining in 
my eyes and I did not see the stray until it 
rose, say twenty yards away. That it was un¬ 
injured was apparent in its strong flight, but 
why it did not see me on the wind-swept bar 
I have never been able to guess. 
Apparently the V formation is only main¬ 
tained in migrating, and, among well-disciplined 
flocks, in long flights to and from feeding 
grounds. On the sandbars where geese rest 
at night, I have seen them make off for the 
wheat fields in the utmost disorder. Some 
flocks flew en masse, others in a ragged hori¬ 
zontal line, and still others stringing out in 
single file, some high, others low, all honking 
as if in protest. When these flocks rose among 
the thousands from an isolated sandbar, the in¬ 
dividuals come from all parts of the mass, and 
not as the result of a conference from one part 
of it. It was as if some individual had said, 
“Who’s going with me for breakfast? ’ and all 
who felt like going followed. 
As to the V formation, it is seldom perfect. 
Now and then there will be only three or four 
geese on one flank and two or three times as 
many on the other. Anon, the long leg of the 
triangle will be bent around toward the front, 
so that many individuals will be flying side by 
side. 
That a goose cannot fly without landmarks to 
guide it is in my opinion self-evident. One 
proof is that, if there is anything more foolish 
than a stray goose, it is a flock of geese in a 
fog. I have killed geese in a fog, only to have 
the balance of the flock circle about aimlessly, 
perhaps come back to be shot at again or alight 
nearby. In apparent confirmation of this theory 
there are the spring and fall flights of all sorts 
of birds, along the Atlantic coast line, with the 
roaring surf for a guide. There are men who, 
every spring and fall, take station at certain 
points, knowing that the flight of hawks will 
pass within range, and this they do day after day. 
On a long snowshoe tramp in the forest there 
is nothing more monotonous than to see the 
immediate foreground blotted out by the lead¬ 
er’s back. It is a positive joy to take the lead 
and get the other man behind you, even though 
breaking trail doubles your work. Why, then, 
should geese fly one behind the other, when 
the leader is merely a guide and has no trail to 
break? In the V formation every individual has 
a clear view ahead and below, and there is no 
fouling of wings, as there might be were the 
formation a horizontal line. G. K. 
