RANDOM REMINDER

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30399, 25 March 1964, Page 32

RANDOM REMINDER

SWAN SONG or THE LADY OF THE LAKE

A doctor, even in these days of specialisation and social security, is usually expected to be something more than a scribbler of prescriptions. Often he is asked to leave his antibiotics behind and produce a bit of home-spun philosophy. But what sort of advice could be offered the patient of a Christchurch doctor who came to him recently and related the sad story of the Ellesmere cygnet? The lady, apparently, had been out to the lake and there she had chanced upon a signet about the size of her hand. It weighed, she discovered later, just 11} ounces. The.

thing was lost, and quite helpless, so she took it home. The cygnet responded to care so well that before long health was fully restored. All this took place early in January. And now the chips are really down. The bird has become accustome to the house, and is unwilling to leave it, although its rather unwilling owner now has problems with swan lake that the Bolshoi never knew. In desperation she rang the Acclimatisation Society, which listened with sympathy, and advised her that she should keep it a little longer, until the bird can look after itself. The woman has bought a bale of straw to encourage bet-

ter habits, but she still can’t get rid of the nuisance, the straw or the cygnet. Now she has been informed she will have to keep it for another two or three months. For a while, there was the thought of a Sunday dinner in the air, but their charge shows such a pathetic friendliness to all in the household that the plan has had to be shelved: baked beans again. It has shown a strong streak of affection for human beings. But with the best will in the world, the owner is beginning to find it embarrassing. Anyone want a good, healthy cygnet, 12 inches in height, weighing 51b 8 ounces, partly housetrained?