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ALMOST HUMAN 
naturally challenging the old bird to teach him a lesson in humility, his 
fighting propensities were roused by the presence of two half-grown 
cygnets on the pond, and he felt it his duty to kill the black swan before 
he could touch them. 
NESTING TIME. 
Swans build their nests on the edge of ponds, and they have some 
instinct that teaches them what will be the highest water-m,ark during 
the period of incubation. Sometimes the nest breaks away from the 
bank, or from its supports, and Mr. Wilkie has seen more than one fioat- 
ing on the water with the mother bird serenely sitting as usual. While 
she is sitting the male swan is exceedingly dangerous, and it is well for our 
friend the Cape Barren goose that he and the swan did not come to con- 
clusions at that period of its history. Peaceable enough at ordinary times, 
he then drives everything living off the pond. Once when ratting, a 
terrier sprang into the water after a rat that was escaping that way, and 
the vicious bird attacked him, and, while thrashing him unmercifully with 
the powerful pinion joints of his wings, held him under the water to 
drown him, and he would have succeeded, too, had not the dog been 
rescued at the last gasp by the keepers. This bird and his mate have 
reared several broods, but boys have stolen three of their clutches of 
eggs, and probably that has not improved his temper. It is a curious 
fact that the cygnets of white swans are black, while the young of black 
swans are white! 
IN COMBAT. 
A fight between two swans is always a thrilling sight to witness. 
Each one tries to get the other by the back of the neck between the 
shoulders. To do this they must swim around each other for a long 
while, making innumerable ineffective snaps. When baulked they fly 
together, breast to breast, hitting as hard as they can with the pinion 
joints of their outspread wings. The savageness with which they 
attack is incredible. They stand up in the water to hit, and the cracks 
resound far and vude. Then they will swim off, come together again, 
and renew hostilities, always watching for the main chance of getting at 
that strategic point between the shoulders. At last one will manage to 
get his beak into the nape of the other’s neck, and once he gets hold 
he never lets go until the end of the fight. His own head is quite safe, 
and he does not fear the cracking of the wings of the under dog. He 
now spends his energies in attempting to effect a landing upon the back 
of his downed foe, and as soon as he succeeds he immerses him in the 
