People's party paper. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1891-1898, 1895-05-03
HABITS OF WILD GEESE.
MARCH ISTHE MONTH THEY
FLY NORTHWARD.
Led by a Sturdy Old Gander
Whose ''Honko is Law-Hy
100 Miles an Hour. %
Pittsburg Dispatch.

Pittsburg Dispatch.
Almost any time during the latter
part of February and throughout
the month of March we may expect
to see a flight of wild fowl at an
altitude of from five hundred to one
thousand feet tapping their way to
the north. The popularity is the
singular V-shaped line, with the apex
forward, and the uniform distance
apart preserved by the fiers. These
are the wild geese, and to both boy
and man this is a,w lys an interesting
spectacle.
These creatures winter in the more
remote parts of the Southern United
States, millions being attracted to the
Everglades of Florida, a vast and
watery region inaccessible to all
quadrupeds, save such as belong to
the families of the amphibia. Others
of these birds penetrate into Mexico,
the Central and South American
States, and the islands and waters of
the Indies afford them favorite re-
sorts.
They are content to remain in these
Southern ATTITUDES during the season
of winter over the Northern Henri
sphere, but with the approach of the
vernal equinox they show signs of
restlessness. They are noisy to a
degree that is deafening as the pair
ing instinct begins to impel them,
and in tens of thousands of squads
they start from their sunny surround
ings for the still, cold and cherries
breeding grounds that extend from
the Northern States through British
America probably to the pole itself.
These fiocks, as they make these
journeys, are invariably led by
stout-hearted gander, who maintains
his post Of honor and authority at
the extreme point of the V, and whose
clarion toned "honk" conveys his
orders, which are responded to by
his converging lines of followers.
When this angle is rigidly main
tanned and moves directly and placidIy
across the sky, we may infer that the
flock is made up of more elderly and
more experienced fowls, but when
the angle scatters, breaks, gets into
straight line and INDUCES in I'M
usual vociferation. it is almost sure
to be the younger fry that is making
the journey. These cannot repress
the feeling of inquisitlveness that tie
novelty of the situation inspires; they
gaze with wonder on the panorama
underneath, to the neglect of atten-
ton and decorum in flight, and, with
out doubt, the patience of the
leader is often sorely taxed. 1t is
like getting raw recruits to preserve
even ranks, and when once the angle
is shattered the troop is "rattled,"
and most-vigorous Is the "honking"
before the rank is again in order.
These journeys are the events in
the lives of geese. They cover zones
in their flights from the tropics to the
poles, and the meterology, they must
encounter is very various. With
favoring wind currents they make
eighty miles an hour, and, except
ionally, they may reach d 100 mile
gait, and this may drop to forty or
fifty miles, and in stress of ugly
weather they may be compelled TO
seek the surface.
The cold spring rains are hard on
flight. They get wet on and under
the wings. There is not only the ad-
ditional weight, but the vanes of the
feathers do not act with that fine
mechanical precision, and when to
this is added snow, a freezing rain or
sleet, then to the earth they make
descent and take such hazards as the
situation affords. Under any cir.
cumstances, the long journey involves
stops for rest and food, and without
doubt the wheat regions are noted
on the Southwark journey in the
fall.
They are vegetarians, and their
food consists of seeds, roots, grass
and portions of plants. AS a rule,
the same geese spread out over the
same territory year after year, both
IN their Southern and Northern
homes, but an exceptional scarcity of
food, or too frequent encroachments
of man, causes them to seek new
localities.
They select a suitable breeding
ground, and hundreds and sometimes
thousands of nests are close together,
made of dry grass, flags and the
down from the breasts Of the females.
During the breeding seasons these
fowls manifest a most audacious
fiereeness, striking at an enemy liter
ally in clouds, giving but small heed