mysterious language of the woods 

 and marshes. Several times, whon 

 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 

 ■wild life than with the hunting of 

 it, and through years of patient 

 Btudy and effort he has brought the 

 wise and wary Canada goose to his 

 home in countless thousands; has 

 made friends with, the wild ducks. 

 bo that some of them have even fed 

 from his hand; has » restocked 

 southern Essex County with quail; 

 brought back to its native haunts 

 the gentle woodcock, after an exile 

 of nearly forty years; lured the 

 purple martin 'three miles inland 

 from their natural habitat, the 

 lake front; brought the amiable 

 robin to his dooryard for protection 

 from its natural enemies; made the 

 rafters of his barn the dwelling- 

 place of whole colonies of swift- 

 winged swallows, and so completely 

 won the. trust of that bit of living 

 joy, the bluebird, that he can re- 

 move the roof of the house he pro- 

 vides for it and look directly into 

 Its ;„ nest without disturbing the 

 mother bird brooding there. 



Ail of these things, told in his 

 own book of recent publication 

 under the title of "Jack Miner and 

 tho Birds," and in his lectures, 

 have made him famed for what he 

 Is — a naturalist of rare understand- 

 ing and a marvellous lore obtained 

 by. direct, first-hand observation of 

 his subjects, and one who, through 

 a broad and profound human sym- 

 pathy, delights to share that lore 

 with his fellows. 



"Red" BUI of Niagara. 



"Red" Hill is considerably the 

 younger man of the two, a veteran 



Ho Is 4 lifelong resident of the 

 Town of. Niagara Falls, Ontario, 

 and as result has been a keen, 

 ever-lntdreated student of the Ni- 

 agara Rfver. 



*a£h£ h .f h'« In'ere't flagged In 

 natcnlntr tha aotlon and reaction of 

 "s wild -waters; : painstakingly, by 

 means otftlcks and logs thrown Into 

 t at various points, has he studied 

 » ts Peculiar and". changing currents; 

 from boyhbod he has navigated 

 oC Us eddies are are In any ... 

 navigablo'at all; until now it would 

 seem that he knows. Its every whim 

 and mood, and has become the au- 

 thority upon it to which others turn 

 when sorie one Is to be rescued from 

 it or whflh some mad adventure Is 

 to be dared In Its angry waters. 



It was '-he" who rescued two men 

 from the kcow that broke loose from 

 Its tug *hll e unloading earth and 

 rocks excavated from the Chippawa 

 Power Canal some three years ago; 

 tt was hi who saved the lives of 

 those whd were saved from the ice 

 bridge bilow the Falls, some time 

 Uer than that again, when It un- 

 expectedly moved out with a number 

 of tourists upon It; It was he who 

 advised the famous Bobby Leach 

 where an! how to have launched the 

 barrel In which he made his perilous 

 but successful trip over the Falls: it 

 as he wfco warned the unfortunate 

 evens igalnst the course he took 

 'maklnk-.the same attempt, which 

 ded In k!s death. 

 A Gre.ir Working Tcnni. 



BHefljy these are the men, one 

 Lecutlvel and principal, one opera- 

 tive and Assistant, who have done a 

 truly mEK-vellous thing that It is 

 hoped mly preserve this one species 

 if wild I fowl, the wild swan, that 

 ras otherwise threatened with ex- 

 tinction It no distant date. • 



Of wit^wans native to this con- 

 tinent tiere were originally two 

 species, lie trumpeter swan and the 

 histlind swan. Of these the first 

 amed, thieh was about one-third 

 le larger of the two, nested in what 

 re now the more closely populated 

 idlons 4f the country, and so has 



sometimes bend their long, graceful 

 necks back, tuck their beaks under 

 their wings, go to sleep, and before 

 they are aware of danger are car- 

 ried over the brink. Sometimes' they 

 become alarmed by the roughness of 

 the rapids above the Falls and at- 

 tempt to take wing again. Mr. Hill, 

 who has watched this little tragedy 

 so many times, believes that If they 

 would fly with the current they might 

 succeed; Invariably, however, they 

 fly against the stream. Also, 

 the gulls, for instance, which seem 

 to raise their wings and float out on 

 the air, the swans and other water- 

 fowl require to make a decided 

 down-stroke of the wing before they 

 are able to rise; in doing this, their 

 wing3 are buffeted by the rough 

 waters into which they have drifted. 

 After each fall they are unable tore- 

 gain their poise before another wave 

 strikes them; and so, from one ledge 

 to another, they are carried swiftly 

 to the great cataract itself. , Agairf 

 he has known birds to escape from 

 these rapids only to become con- 

 tused in the dense fogs that are so 

 common about the Falls. Always, 

 such birds return to the water, and 

 in the end are inextricably caught 

 and swept away in its resistless 

 flood. Hundreds upon hundreds of 

 waterfowl — not swans alone, but 

 wild geese and wild ducks of every 

 species— has Mr. Hill seen meet 

 their death in this way in past years, 

 though wild geese have not been seen 

 he states. In these more re- 

 Baaonff.Blnce they have learned 

 sanctuary to be found at the 

 farm. He has even seen oc- 

 Uly some domestic waterfowl 

 go over, In the same way, though 

 strangely — whether because they go 

 more easily, without resistance or 

 not. Is a question — these seem al- 

 io escape injury. Invariably 

 birds so caught go over the Canadian 

 Horseshoe Falls. 



i in flight above its 



visitors wiui uli 

 of their numbe 

 blue waters. 



It need scarcely be said thai, 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 still greater distances, found in 

 the hitherto unknown opportunity 

 to see these birds in sucl- nu; ."_ers 

 abundant justification for the jour- 

 ney. Neighbors an foot and tourists 

 by car. and invited friends and -wel- 

 come strangers — ail made Kingsvill- 

 and Jack Miner's home their desti- 

 nation this yea 



It is estimated that one Sunday 

 of their stay fifteen thousand peopl 

 visited Kingsville. Men of means 

 gave liberally of those means that 

 the unconsciously regally oeautiru; 

 creatures might be fed. Government 

 photographers as well as those of 

 private companies came and took 

 thousands of feet of motion-picture 

 film of these swans and the hosts 

 of other water fowl; game wardens 

 were there, patrolling the lake front 

 night and day for their protection. 

 The Game Conservation Depart- 

 ent at Ottawa even sent its own 

 special officer; and in him one be- 

 held the unique spectacle (none 

 > less fittingly humane a.nd rea- 

 iable for its unusualness) of an 

 officer, of the Royal Canadian 

 Mountod-._JPoliot> — oritwhile -of th- I 

 far-famed organization, trie — itoyii-. 

 forth-west Mounted ■ Police, " anJ 

 ■earing - proudly still the 'chevrons 

 nd stripes of his years of servlc-.- 

 l it — Standing by to guard the 

 ghts, not of Canada's human, but ' 

 branch of its feathered clt- 



iry. 



The Fateful Swan Song. 



The wild fowl, however, are very 

 often dashed to death upon the rock 

 t the foot of the' Falls; some are so 

 stunned and injured that they float, 

 [head down, in its calmer waters i " 

 drown unless lifted out, when mi 

 of them revive. Others not so badly 

 hurt succeed in getting out onto the 

 ice bridge which forms over the 

 river below the Falls, but have been 

 sufficiently disabled, or are so con- 

 fused by the position in which they 

 find themselves, with one-hundred- 

 and-eight-foot walls of rock on either 

 side, the roaring falls behind, and 

 the great steel bridges above, that 

 they are unable to make their way 

 -out, squat there, helpless, upon the 

 ice, are slowly covered in by the 

 freezing spray, and so perish. It is 

 said that the plaintive, wailing cry 

 of these wild swans as death slowlV 

 comes to them Is one of the most 

 heartrending, unforgettable sounds 

 that one can hear. . 



Plans to Save the Swans. 



For some years it has been known 

 to Jack Miner that the wild swans 

 feed along with the wild geese In 



l|rhe South: and since his home his 



It is reasonabl 

 the protection given these* wild fowl 

 by 'the Migratory Bird Treaty may 

 be largely responsible for the very 

 marked increase in their numbers, 

 and may account, as well, for their, 

 lack of fear. For by the terms of ; 

 this! treaty (signed in 1916, if v 

 are not mistaken) between Cre; 

 Britain and the United States of 

 America, alt migratory birds are pro- 

 tected during certain seasons of the 

 year, and to kill one is not only to 

 break the laws of one's own coun- 

 try, but to violate an lnternati 

 treaty — a very grave offense. But the 

 swans are so protected the -whole 

 year round, and every year. There 

 r an open season on swans. 

 This may account for the fact that 

 they appear tamer, than the geese 

 and .other migratory birds. 

 The Whistling Swan. 



In appearance 

 i-histling swan ' ii 



this the will 

 more i:\nder 

 than the European variety, wMch is 

 the one seen generally in our parks 

 and ornamental gardens; it does no' 

 waddle to the extent that most 

 aquatic birds do, heing scarcelv less 

 graceful upon land than upon vvater 

 When mature, its plumage is com-- 

 pletely pure white, offset by dul' 

 black beak and feet. Its weight fej 

 somewhere, about twentv pounds, nr. ' 



peace, and daybreaK 

 wings such as in our d 

 cord to angels. And . 

 something whispered I- 

 listening ear a line of 

 matchless song o£ gra;. 

 "He leaflets me beside tlr 



