LATE LOCALS.

Hokitika Guardian, 19 March 1926, Page 3

LATE LOCALS.

Wellington is well stocked with swans at nresent. 300 odd of them, but they are merely making a. call in passing through from Lake Ellesmere to divers private parks and public places in England (reports the “Post”). They were taken on the shores of the lake about a month ago by the simple expedient of chasing them from tho water by a motor boat and gathering them up along the shore, for at this time of'the year they are moulting heavily and Hy badly, if they fly at all. Kept in an enclosure and fed on the j so to speak—ol the land, they have become fairly tame; at any rate, they have lost all their panic. They came to Wellington by the lerry steamer the other morning, and after a couple of days’ rest they will go on hoard ship again for the longer trip to England, where they are in considerable- demand as an aid to sculptured figures—the' most modern of them sometimes sculptured in concretewater lilies and the like, iu beautifying artificial parks. The white swan is a native of Europe, the black swan of Australia, hence the demand tor the white bird in Australia and New Zealand. and for the black swan in Europe and Great Britain. The Uliniaroa. hy the way, is bring a pair of white swans from. Holland for the Wellington Zoo on her present trip, and also a pair each of bernicle geese, .kestrels, and woodpeckers.