Morning journal and courier., 1892-06-14
An English Syvannery.

lrFoul LOnuOn SpcctAtOrl.
 Whether jugged by the strangeness and beauty of its surroundings, or the number and variety of wild birds that make it their home, there Is no more fascinating spot for the naturalist, even on the line of coast which includes Poole Haven, Christ church, and Lymington, than the Fleet, the straight lagoon which runs for nine miles from the Isle of Portland to Abbots- bury, behind the barrier of Chesil Beach. There is an acre of water on the narrow shining lagoon, or a rood of shlngle on the Chesil Beach which banks it in, that is not the chosen home of the wild fowl of the river or the shore. During the winter wild ducks and coots in thousands crowd the sheltered waters of the Fleet: in sum- mer the hot and hazy surface of the shingle teens with the young of terms and sea-mews, dotterels and dunlins; and at the head of the water, in an almost tropi- cal growth of pampas grass and fuchsias, and the rankest luxurisnce of the herbage of the marsh, is the swan paradise of Alb botsbury.
 The nine straight miles of water below is only the playground of the birds; but in spring this is forsaken, except by few pairs that nest on the inner side of Chesil Beach; and the rich and sheltered mead which fringes Abbotsbury brook is white with the graceful forms of & thousand nesting swans. In this their ancient hunt, so ancient that although the hills behind are crowned with the ruins of votive fhaI swans may claim for their established home an equal if not greater antiquity all the favorite sites were last week already occupied by the jealous and watchful birds, each keenly resentful of intrusion on its territory, yet in such close proximity to its neighbors that space of ten or twelve feet at most divided it from ground in separate and hostile occupation" Near the mouth of a small stream which enters the Fleet below a close and extensive bed of reeds, now cut down and stored for the use of the birds when building, lies in inc ground most coveted by the swans. There, between two hundred and three hundred nests, or sites tor nests, were occupied on space of two acres at most. So anxious are the birds to secure place on the favorite spot that they remain sitting constantly on the place when occupied, in order to maintain their rights against in-
  necks every morsel of reed and grass within reach to form platform for the eggs. At this time the swanherd visits them constantly, and scatters bundles 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 con- unually; and as the cockswsn 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 interior being already finished, and often partly felted with a lining of swansdown from the birds breasts.
 To the visitors who, under the guidance of the swanherd. walks on the narrow grass paths which wind amid the labyrinth of nests. the colony recalls visions of visits to the island homes of the great petrels of giant albatrosses in distant oceans. Many of the swans have built their nests so that they even encroach upon the paths; and each of the great birds as he passes throws back it's snake-like head, and with raised crest misses fercely and rattles the pinions of its wings, or even leaves the nest and, with every feather Quivering with excite ment, makes as though it wonld drive the intruder from the sanctuary. But the presence Of the swanherd generally reas- sures the birds, though the missing rises and falls as if from the throats of thousand angry snakes In view of the natural jealousy and fsrceness of swans in the breeding season, the comparative gentleness of the Abbotsbury birds is somewhat remarkable. On the rivers and broGds of Norfolk, each pair claim and secure large stretch os water for their sole use, and constant and sometimes fatal fights take place if the reserved territory is invaded by another pair. There also, the swans will occasionally attack not only the strangers, but the swanherds them selves, who, owing to the extent of the streams and dy kes along which the swans nest, are, of course, less we'll known to the birds than are the keepers at Abbotsbury. MT. Stevenson was told by John Trett, a | msrshman of Birmingham. that he was
 attacked by an old male swan as he was examining the eggs in a nest, to which, being boggy place, he had crawled on his hands and knees. The swan coming up behind him unperceived, struck him so violently on he back that he had difficulty in -egaining his boat, where he laid for some time in great pain, and though he managed at length to pull home, he was confined to his bed for more than Q week" Another marshman was struck on the thigh in the same manner, and described the force of the blow and the pain oc- | casioned by it as something incredible"
 The Abbotsbury swans, though not pinion ed like the Norfolk birds, and leading s life of freedom on the verge of the sea, | seem to know by instinct that the pro- lection and safety which they obtain at Abbotsbury are more than enough to com pensate them for the loss of the freedom | and independence which an isolated nest | ing place might give; and with the ex- gregate as has been described, abandoning
 not only their natural instinct for is-
 olation, but also much of the combative-
 ness with which this instinct is accom- | panied. Fights between the cockswans | do occur. But the swanherd soon restores peace. One fine old bird which had quar- | relied with both of its neighbors was
 made happy by a semicircle of tamarisk boughs stuck in the eorth around its nest,
 and so clearly defining its territory.