April i, 1911.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
497 
Spring in Minnesota. 
Minneapolis, Minn., March 20.—Editor Forest 
and Stream: Spring has stretched her soft hands 
over the plains and woods, and we now feel the 
first signs of the season most welcome of those 
in the round of the year. The snows have - fled 
into the streams or have soaked into the ground 
to nourish the roots of the grass soon to sprout 
in every field, hill and lane lately covered by 
winter’s hoary mantle. The sparkling water runs 
through the full brooks carrying the lessening 
ice cakes to their doom. The lover of nature 
delights to feel the advent of spring and to 
watch her growing charms. When stormy March 
has come, we turn expectant eyes to the wide 
horizon to see what is to come. We listen and 
feel. Before many days the pirate crows begin 
to wing their way over the old cornfields, and 
the first robins to appear wake the woodland 
with their cheery calls. The high winds with 
their alternate warmth and chill set the blood 
pulsating and a new breath of life to the over¬ 
worked mortal who has left the city far behind 
him. Worries are cast aside when spring comes 
gypsying over the country; a burden seems to 
be lifted from the shoulders of all humanity; 
children are gayer than ever. 
Soon every wood becomes alive with the carol 
of the birds, the first true sign of the season. 
Wind-tossed, one may see the hardy bluebirds 
fluttering over the fields, now rising and now 
sinking, with their sweet notes half heard over 
the sweeping gale. The song sparrow from the 
rises in the bare fields utters a sweet, clear song 
that recalls many happy thoughts to the mind 
of the nature lover who looks upon everything 
outdoors as close to him. 
Stand on some height on a clear spring morn¬ 
ing and gaze out over the woods and the fields 
and you may feel the life that is springing from 
the earth into the glow of the sunlight now 
warming the land. On the branches of far-off 
trees a faint tinge is discernible, the glimmer 
of swelling buds that crowd the limbs from 
foot to topmost twig. Down in the hollows is 
green grass left from last year under the pro¬ 
tection of the heavy snows that covered it many 
feet deep. Not yet on the hillside is seen the 
changed color to be given when the grass un¬ 
doubles its little fists preparatory to the struggle 
when the day comes for its universal uprising. 
Early as it may be, we can feel the life that 
is coming into its own again. Last year’s leaves 
He crowding the w'ood ways and from them a 
bare murmur is perceptible. Perhaps it is the 
wind stirring them; more likely it is some wood 
mouse abroad or a chipmunk that runs to cover 
at the approach of the wanderer. The squirrels 
are making the woods ring with their barking. 
An animal is seen at the side of a great sunny 
bank and closer scrutiny reveals a fat wood¬ 
chuck sitting up on his haunches looking at you. 
A few weeks ago this same woodchuck lay curled 
up in profound sleep, little caring for the winds 
that howled over the bleak wood. 
Truly, spring has come! There is a stir and 
a whisper everywhere. In the realm of nature 
it is laying widespread plots to bring to an end 
the reign of despotic winter. The blue sky never 
seemed more cloudless and' fair. At twilight 
the horizon is brilliant with sunsets we are long 
to remember. As the days pass the buds swell 
until they burst. R. P . Lincoln. 
A BRITISH COLUMBIA PEAK. 
Photograph by Rutherford Page. 
The Flight of Geese. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Having read with interest the opinions ex¬ 
pressed in your journal as to the flight of wild 
geese, I am tempted to offer my views, not so 
much to advance a new theory as to show the 
fallacy of some already propounded. 
“Hermit” believes that the form of a V is 
assumed to afford protection from the wind to 
the weaklings of the flock. It is well known to 
all sailors and watermen generally that there is 
no place so unfavorable to a boat as the wake 
of a preceding craft. Every vessel as she 
progresses through the water throws off waves 
which leave her bow at an acute angle to the 
line of her course, the angle varying with the 
speed of the boat, but we can ignore the vari¬ 
ation in our argument. In order that the fol¬ 
lowing vessel shall get upon fair terms with 
the leading one, she must be close enough, and 
at the same time far enough on one side of the 
course pursued by the leader to escape these 
waves; otherwise she is handicapped in her 
speed. In other words, a boat moves through 
solid water more readily than through broken 
water, even when she derives her motive power 
from another medium, and if she is a power 
boat she is still further handicapped by hav¬ 
ing her wheel, propeller, or whatever it may 
be, in broken water. I understand from what 
I have read upon the subject that aeroplanes 
also perform much better in undisturbed air 
than in broken air, and I think our air men 
would of all places most carefully avoid the 
interior of an isosceles triangle made by pre¬ 
ceding flying machines. 
My observation has led me to believe that 
those geese which drop out of the line of flight 
almost always occupy a position below the level 
of the rest of the flock. I agree with “Hermit” 
that they appear to be tired, and I think that 
is the reason for the failing to hold their proper 
positions, in that it is due to their inability to 
maintain the chosen altitude of the balance, and 
their places are of course filled by those behind 
which are able to keep up to the general level. 
As I have tried to demolish “Hermit’s” 
theory, it is only fair to give him a chance at 
mine, so I will say that I opine the reason for 
the customary formation of geese and swans in 
flight is due to each individual trying to keep 
close enough to the next preceding one, and at 
the same time far enough to one side to give 
him or her, as the case may be, a line of flight 
through the air undisturbed by either the bow 
wave or the wing motion of the bird ahead. 
In conclusion, I will say that I have never 
known either birds or animals to act in large 
bodies so as to favor the weaker members of 
the community. It is always every one for 
himself and the weakest goes to the wall. Were 
it otherwise, the species adopting the Christian 
idea would soon become extinct through the 
failure in the operation of the law of the sur¬ 
vival of the fittest. 
I do not of course include in my generali¬ 
zation those instances where one sex protects 
the other, or of the parent protecting its off¬ 
spring: nor does it have any bearing on the 
argument which, reduced to its last analysis, is 
the voluntary assistance of the weak of one 
sex by combined effort of the strong in both 
sexes. Percival Hicks. 
1 
