through 

 hi sym- 

 liat Joro 



Inetlori n. no distant date. ■ 



Of wllil^wans native to this con 

 ln«nt tiero wcr« originally two 

 pedes, die trumpeter swim and tho 

 iilstllng,' (wan. Of these the first 

 amed, vhieh was about one-third 

 la larger of the two, nested in what 

 re nowihe more closely populated 

 ■■-lions of the country, and ho " 



... wllon— tl 



ways to escape Injury, Invariably 

 birds so eatiKht pro over the Canadian 

 or Jlorsoshoo Falls. 

 Tho Fntoful Swim Song. 



The wild fowl, however, are very 

 >ften dashed to death upon the rocks 

 t the foot of the Falls; some are so 

 stunned and injured that they float, 

 ~ad down, in Its calmer waters and 

 - -jwn unless lifted out, when many 

 of them revive. Others not so badlv 

 hurt succeed in getting; out onto the 

 Ice bridge which forms over the 

 iver below the Falls, but have been 

 -uffielently disabled, or are so con- 

 .'used by the position in which they 

 find themselves, with one-hundrcd- 

 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 

 it, squat there, helpless, upon the 

 -.3, are slowly covered in by the 

 freezing spray, and so perish. It is 

 aid that the plaintive, wailing cry 

 >r these wild srwans as death slowly 

 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 

 the South; and since his home has 

 become in recent years the recog- 

 nized stopping place for the geese oh 

 their migrating flights, he has been 

 ncreasingly hopeful that in time the 

 swans as well would learn to come 

 there and find rest and food and 

 ifety. 



Naturally this purpose would be 

 very much furthered, he knew if he 

 could secure a few of their kind that, 

 during their flights, isolated groups 

 from the main flock could see living 

 there at his farm, in the protection 

 from guns and the unfailing food 

 supply that must spell luxury in the 

 feathered world. v 



A year ago, therefore, in the spring 

 of 1923. when he learned that as 

 Usual wild swans were passing north- 

 over the Niagara River, and 

 that some of them had been, injured 

 and were on the Ice-bridge, still liv- 

 ing, he arranged with "Red'' Hill to 

 ... of them and send t 

 '"MnT." As qtiickly'as he hm arranged 

 ._ have Mr. Hill rescue the bird« he 

 busied himself in securing from 'the 

 Game Conservation- Department of 

 the Dominion Government at Ottawa 

 the necessary permit for their cap- 

 ture. For the game laws are most 

 stringent in the protection of these 

 birds, and to capture and save the 

 lives of even such ones as may be 

 ■rned otherwise to certain slow 

 death Is apt to be Interpreted by the 

 ofheers who enforce it.as an infringe- 

 ment of that law. 



Tho Team Gets to Work. 



For the one, then, a hurried trip 

 to Ottawa. For the other, early, 

 early morning, with the raw, spray- 

 laden winds blowing coldly down the 

 Gorge; a rowboat braving the eddies 

 below the Falls where any un- 

 famlliarily with their caprices i .• uny 

 miscalculation in meeting them 

 would mean sure and frightful death 

 in tho Whirlpool Rapids below, the,; 

 some distance on foot over the lag- 

 ged, upturned edges of the broken 

 floes that form the surface of the 

 ice-bridge. A perilous trip, and not 

 an easy one, but one that he has 

 made times without number, and 

 makei once more successfully. 



Jack Miner obtained the license to 

 capture six swans and had it for- 

 warded by mail; -Red" Hill rescued 

 the six swans, and temporarily con- 

 cealed them in his cellar. For a mat- 

 '-- of hours it wag an exciting ques- 



lt in 



able 



In 



llpp< 



lb: 



lion which -would be first, thu a 



tho protection given these wild fowl 

 by tho Migratory Bird Treaty may 

 bn' largely rc/tponnlblo for tho very 

 marked Incrcasio In their numbers, 

 and may account, as well, tor their 

 lack of fear. For by tho terms of 

 this treaty (signed in 191C, if we 

 are not mistaken) between <'re a ' 

 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 Internationa! 

 treaty — a very grave offense. But the 

 .ns are so protected the • whole 

 year round, and every year. There 



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 this the will 

 whistling swan is more c\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, being scarcely le<=s 

 graceful upon land than upon water 

 When mature, its plumage is com- 

 pletely pure white, offset by dull 

 black beak and feet. Its weight is 

 somewhere about twenty pounds, and 

 attains a wing-spread of r.bout 

 -- 'en feet. Swans have been found 

 at the Fails measuring nearly ten 

 feet from tip to tip, but it is thought 

 these mav have been wandering indi- 

 viduals of the trumpeter species. 



Look On This Picture. 



Within the past few days the writ- 

 visited both these haunts of the 

 vans. One sunshiny afternoon 1 

 ood high on the Canadian shore 

 above the rush and roar and turmoil 

 waters th.at is Niagara. To the 

 'ht one looked up-stream upon 

 5 rapids above tho Falls, a suc- 

 cession of shallower, wide falls that 

 )m the river level gave one the 

 — .pression of a broud. ascending 

 stairway, carpeted in tumbling gree>- 

 and white waters. To the left ran 

 the Gorge, with its swirling green 

 eddies, that one knew a little further 

 on were churned into gigantic white » 

 waves in'the Whirlpool Rapids ;-.efor<--- 

 they rushed on again into that dead- 

 ly basin of rock, the whirlpool itself, 

 where they circle about until they 

 are at length drawn downward and, 

 it Is said, pass under the L.comin:- 

 current, to , boil up again beyond 

 U and continue a quieter flow on- 

 ward toward Lake Ontario. Directly 

 before lay the Canadian Falls, with 

 tho natural woods of Goat Island, 

 the American Falls, and then the 

 American shore, with the walls and 

 water-gates and huge chimney-stacks 

 of its great industries forming the 

 background. This Canadian or 

 Horseshoe Falls is one great mass of 

 green water, hurling itself over a 

 seemingly small and nearly circular 

 precipice, to strike, a moment lat 

 upon hidden rocks and boil upward 

 again, a cauldron of seething white; 

 above this floated, high, as always 

 the cloud of spray, in which, that 

 monnmt, the lowering sun had set its 

 rainbow. Beauty incomparable! Yet 

 beauty possessed of a dread fasci- 

 nation, instinct with a cruel im- 

 placable force and deadllness that 

 has lured and torn limb from limb 

 many a victim of its sinister charm. 

 —And on This. 



It was morning when I saw Kings- 

 ■llle — not the brilliant morning of a 

 ater season, but a pale-gold early 

 April morning, with a dash of rain 

 inst the windshield one moment, 

 —..owed the next by the shy smile of 



