us apparition of grey geese and swallows in company on
the first day of April, 1839. This wedge formation of flight over land
and sea is not only peculiar to these waterfowl, but is not apparently
adopted by any other long distance migrants. No satisfactory explanation
of their preference for flying in this order has been found, but it is
thought to lessen the air resistance, which must be a consideration for
these short-pinioned fowl that weigh heavy in proportion to their
displacement and at the same time lack the tremendous spread of wing
that enables the wandering albatross to soar for days together over the
illimitable ocean. With one noticeable exception, these waterfowl
exhibit a more extraordinary range of size and weight than any other
family of birds, from the whooper swan, five feet long and twenty-five
pounds on the scales, down to the little teal, with an overall
measurement of only fourteen inches and a weight that does not exceed as
many ounces. The only other family of birds running to such extremes is
that of the birds of prey, which include at once the stately condor of
the Andes with its wing-spread of fifteen feet, and the miniature
red-legged falconet of India and adjoining countries, in which the same
measurement would scarcely reach as many inches.

Since even game birds are derisively referred to as "tame" only by those
ignorant of the facts, the birds now under notice differ in this respect
from all those previously dealt with; and they are geographically apart,
again, from our other domesticated animals, since they are not, like the
barndoor fowl and most of the rest, of Asiatic origin, but must often,
in the grey of a winter morning, be conscious of their near relations
flying at liberty across the sky. The geese and ducks have been
remarkably transformed by the process of domestication, and a comparison
between those of the farmyard and their kindred in the marshes should
illustrate not only the relative value of most virtues, but also the
all-importance of Aristotle's how, when and where. Strictly speaking, no
doubt, the tame birds have degenerated, both mentally and physically, as
surely as the tame ass. They have lost the acute perceptions and swift
flight of their wild relations. Economically, on the other hand, they
are immeasurably improved, since the farmer, indifferent to the more
inspiring personality of the grey goose and the mallard, merely wants
his poultry to be greedy and stupid,