The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1892-08-17
AN ENGLISH SWANNERY.
THE SWAN PARADISE IN THE
LAGOON AT BBOTSBURY.
An ancient Haunt for Thousands of
the Graceful Birds - Fierceness
of Nesting swans.

An ancient Haunt for Thousands of
the Graceful Birds - Fierceness
OF Nesting swans.
X LONDON paper (the Specta-
~ tor calls the Fleet, the straight
~ lagoon which runs for nine
miles from the Isle Of Portland
to Abbotsbury, behind the barrier of
Chesil Beach, "the swan paradise" and
adds:
The nine straight miles of water be-
low is only the playground of the birds;
but in spring this is forsaken, except by
a few pairs that nest on the inner side
of Chesil Beach; and the rich and
sheltered mead which friuges Abbots-
bury Brook is white with the graceful
forms of a thousand nesting swans. In
this their ancient haunt, so ancient that
although the hills behind are crowned
with the ruins of votive chapels and an
cient monasteries, the swans may claim
for their established home an equal if
not greater autiquity-all the favorite
sites were last week already occupied by
the Jealous and watchful birds, each
keenly resentful Of intrusion on its ter
ritory, yet in such close proximity to its
neighbors that Il space Of ten or twelve
feet at most divided it from ground in
"separate aud hostile occupation"
Near the mouth Of small stream which
enters the Fleet below a close and eX
tensive bed of reeds, now cut down and
stored for the use of the birds when
building, lies the ground most coveted
by the swans. There, between two hun
dred and three hundred nests, or
sites for nests, were occupied on
n space of two acres at most. So anxious
are the birds to secure a place on this
favorite spot that they remain sitting
constantly Oh the place when occupied,
in order to maintain their rights against
intruders, and there collect with their
long necks every morsel of reed and
grass within reach to form a platform
for the eggs. At this time the swanherd
visits them constantly, and scatters bun.
dies of dried reed from the stacks, which
are eagerly gathered in by the swans and
piled round and beneath them as they
sit. These additions to the nest go on
continually; and as the cock-swan takes
his share, or even more than his share, of
the duties of sitting upon the eggs, one
of the pair is always at liberty to collect
fresh material. This is mainly piled in
kind of wall round the nest, the in.
terror being already finished, and often
partly felted with lining of swansdown
from the birds breasts.
To the visitor who, under the guild
ance of the swanherd, walks on the mar
row grasspaths which wind amid the
labyrinth of nests, the colony recalls
| visions of visits to the island homes o
the great petrels or giant albatrosses in
| distant oceans. Many of the swans have
built their nests so that they even en-
croach upon the paths; and each OF the
great birds as he passes throws back it
snake-like head, and with raised crest
hIsses fiercely and rattles the pinions o.
its wings, or even leaves the nest, anc
with every feather quivering with excite
ment, makes as though it would drive
the intruder from the sanctuary. Blu
the presence of the swanherd generally
reassures the birds, though the kissing
rises and falls as if from the throats of ,
| thousand angry snakes. In view of thu
natural jealously and iierceness of swan
in the breeding season, the comparative
oentleness of the Abbotsbury birds, il
| somewhat remarkable. On the river
and broads of Norfolk each pair claim
and secure large stretch OF water fo
their sole use, and constant and some
| times fatal fights take place if the re
served territory is Invaded by anothe
! par. There, also, the swans will occa
! sonaly attack not only strangers
bat the swanherds themselves, who
owing to the extent of tn,
stream and dykes along which thu
swans nest, are, of course, less wei
known to the birds than are the keeper
at Abbotsbury. Mr.. Stevenson was tolC
by John Trett, a marshman of Surfing
nam, that he was "attacked by an ole
male swan as he was examining the egg
in nest, to which, being IA boggy place
he had crawed on his hands aud knees
The swan, coming up behind him un-
perceived, struck him so violently OF
The back that he had difficulty in regain
ing his boat, where he laid for SOM
time in great pain, aud though he man
aged at length to pull home, he wa
confined to his bed for more than I
week" Another marshman was strucl
en- the thigh in the same manner, anC
described the force Of the blow and the
pain occasloned 10y it as something in
credible. The Abbotsbury swans,
though not pinioned like the Norfolk
binds, and leading life OF freedom on
the verge of the sea, seem to know by
instinct that the protection and safety
which they obtain at Abbotsbury are
more than enough to compensate them
for the loss of the freedom and inde,
pendence which an isolated nesting
place might give; and with the excep-
tion of about twenty pairs, they congre-
gate as has been described, abandoning
not only their natural instinct for isola-
tion, but also much OF the combativeness
with which this instinct is accompanied.
Fights between the cock-swans do occur.
But the swanherd soon restores peace.
One fine old bird which had quarrelled
with both of its neighbors was made
happy by a semicircle Of tamarisk boughs
stuck in the earth around its nest, and
SO clearly defining its territory.