The Press., 1886-01-14
Volume 28. Number 42.
CENTRAL PARK SWANS SURPRISED.

/! The swans in Central Park were greatly
 disturbed recently by the sudden appear
 ance of ice on the lake. The coating of
 the glassy surface of their sporting pond each year with ice seems to them like an
 uncalled-for intrusion, and they manifest
 their displeasure at 1t by numerous loud
 and unmuslcal cries. As a cold snap comes on, the southern part of the lake
 freezes first, and the ice gradually advanc-
 es northward, driving the amphibious
 birds before it, until the whole lake is
 coated, with the exception of the extreme
 north end, where the yelling up of nu-
 merous springs prevents the water from 1 freezing. The graceful bird, as 1t finds
 the ice gradually closing in on it, glides
 back and forth with majestic motion,
 dashing with pentup wrath against the
 newly formed ice, and duckfng its head
 under water with such vahemence as to
 make 1t fairly seeth and boil. These
 strange antics are occasionally varied by
 startled cry and 8 sudden rush for the
 shore that gives one the idea that hunter is on the track of the bird.
 When the ice began to form for the first time this season the swans renewed their
 annual antics. In few days the ice ex- tended over the entire surface of the lake and the birds were deprived of their sport ing ground. This loss they seemed to take sadly to heart, and their sorrow was only partly sssusged by floundering ill small muddy hole near the north borders of the lake. But what was their surprise on the fourth morning to find the lake,
 not as they had left it on the previous night, one sheet of glistening ice, but an open pond. During the night the lake
 had been flooded in order to wash away
 the sand and dust that had collected on the ice, and several inches of water was on the surface of the ico. No sooner had
 the family of swans discovered this state of things than the whole tribe with a si~ multaneous cry rushed for the water. There was 8 loud splash as they all struck the water at once, and the next moment five helpless birds made the surrounding
 woods reecho with their cries. Not &C., customed to finding ice four inches from the waters surface and unable to stand up and walk they felt the helplessness of
 position. The old mother swan made the
 first energetic effort to reach shore Slap ping the water with her wings and using
 her feet as we'll, she managed to advance about one foot, aud then she slipped and fell against her mate. Both birds rolled over in the water and joined in lively
 domestic quarrel. When they had finally
 contented themselves in pecking each oth-
 CT, they found that they were further
 than ever from the shore. In the mean
 time the younger ones of the family had edged shoreward to escape meeting the flying wings of their parents, and with lit tie difficulty they Topped upon dry land.
 The two older ones, finding that their quarrel had been productive of no good results, renewed their efforts to reach the
 bank, but each in an opposite direction. By 8 sort of skating and sliding motion they managed toSdo this after several pe- cufiar evolutionssand undignifieG tumbles.
 The five crestfallen birds then waddled up
 the bank, gave vigorous shake or two to their feathers, looked at the water in 8 puzzled manner, as much as to say that they did not understand it, and then, with their necks stretched to their full length, marched one by one to their small mud
 hole near the head of the lake. They had had their first, and probably their last, skate for this season.-N r Tribune.