Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1903-05-27
Animals That Swim,

There is hardly an animal known
that cannot swim Most animals are
perfectly ready to swim when neces-
sary, and will cross deep water by
swimming rather than to go around it..
Some animals swim only when the
greatest necessity drives them to it.
Birds, on the other hand cannot
swim unlecs they are water fowl. Ev-
cry one knows how miserably chickens
perish in water. Song birds are equal
~ helpless. Even the wadisrs drown in
deep water.
1t is a common belief that pigs can
rot swim, or, rather, that, although
they cannot swim, they will "cut their
throats" with their front hoofs in the
struggle.
AS matter of fact the domestic pig
is not willing swimmer, and will
take to the water only in the most Sc
rious emergency. But the wild boar
swims readily, and takes to the water
invariably if hunted in a direction that
leads to it.
The domestic cat is a very good and
swift swimmer, despite her objection
to water. In an experiment made by
the writer, a cat beat water spaniel
Both were thrown overheard a meas
ured quarter Of mile from shore, and
the cat got in first.
The cats superior speed was not
due to her fear of the water, for she
nF re on IN
voluntarily. The dog was fully as anx-
ious to reach shore as the cat, for he
was frantic with eagerness to get to
his master who stood on the land.
The cat in question belonged to me
when l opened fishing camp on a
marsh island in the middle of one Of
the big salt water pays on the south
shore of Long Island. She was great,
ugly black cat, and as she had been
born on the marsh, she was accus-
toned to the water from the beginning.
When she was still tiny kitten, she
need to amuse us and our visitors by
lying close to the water and making
swift dabs with her claws at the lit
tie minnows that flashed past.
Finally, one day, we were surprised
to find her standing in the water. She
had waded out so far that only her
shoulders and head were above the
surface and there she stood fishing.
For long time she did not move a
muscle. Then suddenly she made a
quick motion with her left fore claws
and backed out of the water with
little blackfish.
From that day on it became unnec-
essary to feed the cat. She hunted for
eral years she ate absolutely nothing
but fish, except in winter.
She became so greedy for fish that
she would leap into boats as soon as
they came alongside and steal the first
fish that she could seize. Finally it
became customary for the fishermen
to anchor their boats in front of the
camp and wade ashore to prevent the
thief from getting any of their catch.
AS the beach was shelving, the boats
often were anchored 200 feet out from
shore. One day saw something move
in one of the boats and then l saw our
black cat climb furtively out of tho
bow with a fish in her mouth. She
slipped gently into the water and swan
ashore with her spoil.
After that she made regular prac-
tice of swimming out to boats until
she became nuisance. Her sins were
made worse by the fact that, although
she would stand in the water patient
ly for hours waiting for a fish, she re-
fused absolutely to catch the white
rats with which the creek was infest-
ed.
So there was no grief among us
when a stranger seeing the cat swim
across the creek one day imagined that
she was some curious sea creature and
shot her dead.-San Francisco Chron-
icle.