SINGING IN THE RAIN.

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 462, 2 July 1937, Page 4

SINGING IN THE RAIN.

Battling x home last evening through rain and wind, an Auckland suburban resident was surprised to hear the merry whistling of a bird. The hour, he reports, was just on six o’clock, when all self-respecting birds should have been nestling down in their nests. Not so this particular bird, something like a sparrow with a tinge of yellow in his feathers, which was perched high up on an electric light bracket, and singing as lustily and tunefully as many a canary. Apparently the bird had delayed its homeward journey just before dusk, and when the street light was switched on had been deluded into the belief that dawn had arrived. The suburbanite contented himself with the explanation of the unusual occurrence, and went on his way. The bird was still “singing in the rain” when he reached his back door, and shut out its melody. DOG’S BATTLE WITH SWAN. An unusual incident is reported by a Rotorua sportsman who was shooting recently on one of the lakes in the district. He had shot a black swan and sent his retriever to bring it in. The swan was, to all appearances, dead, but when the dog drew near it it suddenly came to life and commenced to thresh the animal with its powerful wings. The struggle continued for two or three minutes, the dog repeatedly attempting to seize the wounded bird and as often being beaten off. The dog’s owner, on the bank, was unable to shoot owing to the danger of hitting the dog and it appeared for a moment as though the swan would win the battle and make its escape. However, the dog was equal to the occasion, and diving underneath the bird seized it by the neck and dragged it down. When the animal finally succeeded in bringing ’ts prize to land it was practically exhausted.