A VISITATION OF SWANS 



noisy splashing as they threw themselves heavily 

 and rather clumsily first on one side and then on 

 the other. " They are bound to make a clean job 

 of it," writes the pencil. One of the adults (known 

 for such by his clear white head) made a particu- 

 larly brave show in drying himself, stretching up 

 to his full height, and shaking his wings and tail 

 in a most vigorous manner. 



" In calling," my note-book records, — though 

 I fail to remember the pertinency of the remark 

 in this immediate connection, — " they hold the 

 head straight up, and then at the moment of ut- 

 terance raise it a little higher still with a sudden 

 jerk. Their loud calls sound human." 



I spent the better part of an hour watching 

 their various activities. Then, as I passed a trifle 

 too near, they swam out into the lake, from the 

 middle of which three of them suddenly took 

 wing, for no apparent reason, rising to a consid- 

 erable height and flying oif toward the golf- 

 grounds, as if they were bound away for good. 

 The others declined to follow their lead, how- 

 ever, and after a bit the seceders returned, flew 

 across the sky directly before me, their necks 

 stretched out to the full (looking almost ridicu- 

 lously slender), and dropped again into the lake. 



Here was the very thing I had been wishing 

 to see — swans in flight. And I had seen it to 

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