How Wild Swans Are Detoured 

 From Niagara to Kingsville, 

 And Saved From Destruction 



Two Brave, Tender-Hearted Men Patiently and De- 

 liberately Set Themselves the Task of Changing 

 the Course of Flight of Beautiful, Though Blindly 

 Foolish Birds 



/THE GLOBE, TORONTO, SATURDAY ^MAV £ 

 SA VED FROM DESTRUCTION IN TREACHERCL 



NORTH AMERICA'S RARE FLOCK 



MULTIPLIED BY MANY HUNDREDS 



HE true story of how Jack Miner has brought the surviving fl ock 



£J rXTT - larS6St and most >-»^ or an tK£ 



Uhp „f ♦ t America-out of the peril of the Niagara River into 



How r d C If p"^ 61 Wa<3e i0 a b ° 0kIet J«»f Plashed ly Mr 

 ?h7 a i C f2: e s': PreS1<ieUt ° f United ^Com P any of Windsor. 



a wonderful drea U M h stead v* h P T A^*^ Ms Very thln e 

 other of them a man wno has for vt r *E V6d ? 0U l d come true .' «»* 

 at great risk and against ^treraendn,., nHH d ? 1C What he could > bI «dly, 

 fro, the destruction 6 «SS ™™ Wrds 



TWO BRAVE, TEXDER-HEARTED MEN. 



J & 11]e two men, who had never met „„*:i 

 characteristics in 'common Both ^re brave* US? haV(? SeveraI 



bravado of ignorance, but with the fine SZW °^ > With , any tooIisn 

 danger very clearly, and yet nits L Jit* ? understands the 



has several times saved the life of son ' , SWS ' ™ d dares : eaoh 

 are lovers of the wild fowl with? wW^Slfr^SK?^ this way; both 

 familiar; both are, on their own a v so re ™° nment h ^ made them 

 it: both are men whom the! fnl) ^1 A ea(ie ; and not ashamed of 

 friendly and familiar than the form d o, ° P Ca 'i by some nan 'e more 

 these names, therefore by wWch t™? arc ea^ 'h" 11 ". Christeni *S- By 

 be introduced here. The two »« t.a w generally known, they shall 

 Hill of Niagara Falls 6 3dCk * Uaer ° r Kingsville and "Red" 



of the Great War, who was b^« pi1 

 once and wounded three times dur 

 »ng various engagements in It, and 

 ve , r ? 8 l SPent considerably over a 



Mother Counf ' B CaDada and 

 He f a n, ? fr0m tnis cau se. 

 SLi . ^ felon « resident of the 



A small Group Out of the Entire Flock of whistling Swans Which Visit Kingsville, on the Qatar: 



would 



Makes Birds His Friends. 



Of Jack Miner our reader has 

 possibly heard already. In vouth 

 he was a hunter, renowned fo'r his 

 skill with the gun and his ability 

 to read like an open book all the 

 mysterious language of the woods 

 and marshes. Several times, when 

 all others had failed, he has gone 

 confidently into the depths of some 

 strange and trackless forest and 

 Brought back some one lost there 

 Latterly he has become much more 

 concerned with the preservation of 

 >vild lite than with the hunting of 



been almost wiped out. Fifty 

 cover all that have been seen in re- 

 cent years. Until two years ago it 

 was supposed that of the remaining 

 species, the whistling swan, there 

 might be as many as four hundred 

 still existing In thejr wild state. 

 Small flocks of them would be seen 

 upon occasion, during the sprint- 

 migrating season. 



Unfortunately for their survival, 

 it seemed their custom to cross the 

 chain of the Great Lakes .and their 

 connecting rivers at the foot of Lake 

 Erie, and manyMlmes it has been 

 known that numbers of these rare, 

 oeautlfui creatures have perished in 

 ^nd about Niagara Falls. 



The accepted explanation of this 

 s mat the swans, wearied with their 

 .•>;• flight from their winter feeding 

 r„" U ? J. .' n tnc Sou 'hern Atlantic 

 Coast States, drop into certain areas 

 of calm water in the Niagara River, 

 usually opposite Chlppawa, about 

 three miles above the Palls. Here 

 is always open water, on- account of 

 the exceeding swiftness of the cur- 

 rent at this point; and oftentimes, at 

 that very early spring season of the 

 year it is the only open water to be 

 found this far north. 

 Dash to Destruction. 



the police. As it turned out there 

 wasn't more than twenty minutes 

 between them, but that twenty min- 

 utes was the postman's, the permit 

 being; delivered to Mr. Hill's home 

 while the officers were on their way 

 to arrest him. Even as it was he 

 had to appear before the authorities 

 and the fact that the department 

 had thoughtfully antedated their 

 license by one month was alt that 

 saved him from a very heavy line 

 These six beautiful white £ rans 

 each with wing clipped, have since 

 become a. familiar sight, feeding on 

 and about the pond that is thirty 

 feet from Mr. Miner's breakfast- 

 room window. 



Here, in supposed safety, they 

 metimes bend their long, graceful 

 necks back, tuck their beaks under 

 their wings, go to sleep, and before 

 ney are aware of danger are car- 

 ried over the brink. Sometimes they 

 thTranM,"™.'* by . the "ugliness of 



The Miracle Performed. 



Here Is the amazing thing that 

 tliia happened: 



This year only two wild swans 

 have been seen in the Niagara dis- 

 trict, while adjacent to Kfagavlllc 

 a flock that it is estimated must 

 number about two thousand follow- 

 ed the arrival of the wild geese 

 by about two weeks, and f ,r 

 days remained there, cradled on the 

 quiet bosom of Lake Erie, feeding 

 unafraid, close i n along us .-• 

 even opposite the town itself, and 

 rewarded its enraptured citizens and 

 visitors with the rare, lovely vision 

 of their numbers in flight above its 

 bluo waters. 



It. need scarcely be said that peo- 

 ple thronged there to enjoy this 

 unusual sight. The interested public 

 of the surrounding countryside, bird- 

 lovers of Ontario and Michigan and) 

 Ohio, and noted ornithologists 

 from sim greater (Ufhflwe^ f*mftrf : 



clouds. Behind lay the level, win-! 

 ter-bleached fields, bee-inning to take ' 

 on, here and there, a HTlggesEoa pi 

 me coming green of new wheatSeWs. : 

 intersected here and there hy a rib-' 

 bon of purple-brown loam that the' 

 Plow had newly laid. Before 

 stretched the curving shoreline end 

 far horizon of Lake Erie. Close in : 

 to shore, and so unafraid that one ! 

 might go within fifty feet of them, 

 swam a flock of the swans them- 

 selves, white, graceful, gracious be- 

 yond description. A little farrier 

 out, a great patch of waters was 1 ' 

 black with feeding wild geese and j 

 ducks. A mile or more to the risht 

 floated another large flock of swans i 

 and again, almost, where sky and 1 

 waters seemed to meet. a. third flock, 

 scarcely discernible in the distar.ee. 

 All were moving with gentle ael • 

 ateness toward the west, as is ihe 

 wont of birds, to return acain al 

 nightfall. Suddenly a small srot-i of 

 the swans took wing, evenly spired 

 in single file, and as thev movf i. a 

 shaft of clear sunlight touching them . 

 gave them, one moment, wings as of, 

 gleaming sliver. 



No dangerous allure here! Nofjj- 

 ing but pastoral loveliness — soothing 

 quietness — infinite- peace. 



'-'One paused, a little awed, involun- . 

 tarily reverent before this vision of j ' 

 peace, and daybreak, and wide white ; 

 wings such as in our dreams we ac- | 

 cord to angels. And as we paused 1 

 something whispered into the beam's | 

 listening ear a line of the Psalmist's 

 matchless song ot graxim.i n: . . 

 'He leadetli me beside fbs Ttvrf ABfc^gJ 



