Animals: Swan Dive

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One day last week a great northbound skein of wild whistling swans (less rare than the trumpeting species) settled upon Niagara River above the falls to spend the night. A stiff breeze that had been blowing upstream fell away. In the morning, rivermen found the icy gorge below the falls strewn with dead swans. Some 50 survivors sat huddled on the floes. Despite restraining efforts by officials of the Queen Victoria Park Commission, Riverman William ("Red") Hill, famed survivor of two trips through Niagara's rapids in a barrel (TIME, July 13), picked his way out on thence, frightened the foolish swans into taking wing, flying to safety.

Hundreds of swans are swept over Niagara every year. At Niagara, about 10% are killed, 30% injured. In 1924 and 1927, several thousand went over. The dead and injured usually drift to the Canadian side of the rapids. The dead are sent to charity. The injured go to the Buffalo Zoo or to Jack Miner's bird sanctuary at Kingsville, Ont. (TIME. Jan. 26, 1931 et ante).