448 Fleming, The Niagara Swan Trap. [qS 



towards the Horseshoe Falls, never allowing themselves to float 

 past the 'Maid of the Mist' landing on the American side; they 

 seemed to be afraid to pass under the Upper Suspension Bridge, 

 though their road to safety lay down the river. Herring Gulls 

 were continually passing underneath the bridge but it was too much 

 for the swans to face. The swans rise easily from the water quite 

 like the Herring Gulls, and the easy flapping of the wings on rising 

 and folding of the wings on settling were much the same. Only 

 one swan rose to any height above the water, possibly half way 

 up to the brink of the Falls. The rest kept close to the level of 

 the water, always rising against the current and flying towards the 

 Canadian Falls, but were either unable through weakness or too 

 frightened to rise above and escape into the upper river. One bird 

 was using a cake of ice as a resting place, but he too, was unable 

 to face the prospect of going under the bridge. I have no doubt 

 that all these birds eventually grew too weak to resist the current 

 and were drowned. The Swans arrive in the Niagara with very 

 little food reserve and are unable to get food in the ri^'er, and 

 weakened by their battle with the current fall easily at night into 

 the trap set by the rapids above the Falls, as do many other 

 species of water birds. I am told a good many Canvas-backs 

 came over the Falls this spring, I saw one on April 7 besides 

 several Golden-eyes that had. met the same fate. Mr. Savage 

 in a recent letter says, "It seems a pity that so many of these 

 noble birds are destroyed every spring, but I see no way to 

 prevent it, if they arrive during the night. If they should be seen 

 on the waters above the Falls, arrangement might be made to 

 drive them away." 



