FOREIGN NOTICES. 



91 



al brood of cygnets on enclosed or artificial waters. 

 if they knew but how to order them aright. 



Imprimis, then they are called " tame swans, 

 domestic Bweas$" never were epithets more inap- 

 propriate, unless we agree to say " tame hyena, 

 tame wolf, tame rat, domestic pheasant, domestic 

 swallow." They will come to their keeper's call 

 and take food from his hand, they will keep at 

 home, when they are completely prevented from 

 ranging out of hounds abroad ; so far they are 

 tamed and domesticated, but no further, and never 

 will he. To compare the relations which exist be- 

 tween them and man, with those by which we re- 

 tain the goose and common fowl, is about as cor- 

 rect as to believe that the same temper and dispo- 

 sition inlluence the faithful dog and the wildest 

 jackal of the'wildeuiess. I put the case thus 

 strongly, in order that it may be understood clear- 

 ly. The comparisons may be a little exaggerated, 

 but they will serve to raise the real truth into 

 higher relief. Many systematic naturalists of de- 

 served reputation have not been aware of the fact. 

 Professor Low, speaking of the eileets of domesti- 

 cation on birds, savs '' The swan, the noblest of 

 all water fowls, becomes chained, as it were, to 

 our lakes and ponds, by the mere change of his 

 natural form." Uun,e>ticate<l Animals of the Brit- 

 ish Islands ; Introduction, p. liv. Chained, in- 

 deed! I should like the learned philosopher to see 

 a pair of unmutilated swans cleaving the air with 

 extended pinions. He evidently takes the swan to 

 be a domesticated bird, and that it will not fly 

 away, instead of that it cannot. Waterton, who 

 speaks only so far as he has seen, in his vivid es- 

 says, 2'ives a very different account of the pro- 

 ceedings of a swan whom he indulged in the free 

 use of his wings, for the gratification of observing 

 his graceful evolutions in the air. But at present 

 the discovery, and introduction, and dispersion of 

 a species of swan that would be really tame, and 

 stay at home without being tied by the wing, as 

 prolific and having as valuable plumage and flesh 

 as the common sort, would be one of the most val- 

 uable boons which the great London societies could 

 now offer to the proprietors of limited portions of 

 fluvial and lacustrine waters. 



Is there nothing resembling this una Lie 



human race ? The mention of the word •• . 

 will set thought. capable persons a thinking . "Oh! 

 but they have been neglected, uneducated, til-cared 

 for! Educate! Educate!" say well-intentioned 

 persons, who seem to declare that the soul of man 

 is a carte blanche, and who would thereby, imtli in k- 

 ingly, deny the doctrine of Original Sin, as assert- 

 ed by the Church of England. But I have seen 

 enough both of bird and mankind to know tl al the 

 heart of neither is a carte blanche; you cannot 

 write on cither, whatever it may be Tour pleasure 

 there to inscribe. Your duty, in both cases, is to 

 take them as you And them, and make the best 

 v.pii can of them for their interest, which will be 

 found eventually to coincide with your own. 



Swans, then, are /era nature to all intents and 



purposes; of that there is no doubt whatever the 

 law of the matter may be; but although capri- 

 cious birds, wild in their very nature, like most 

 living creatures they have some attachment to 

 place. The first point therefore is to settle them 

 agreeably in their destined home. Old birds are 

 less likely to be contented with a new abode, un- 

 less very distant from their former one, and are 

 seldom to be obtained in the market. Cygnets 

 may be procured every autumn ; if they have been 

 put up to fat for some time, so much the better, 

 as they will the sooner become tame, and con- 

 tented with a small range — which I am supposing 

 to be the thing required. The disadvantage of 

 having cygnets to begin swan-keeping with is, 

 that they are less ornamental till they have attain- 

 ed their perfect plumage, and the proper orange 

 color of the bill, and that they do not breed till 

 their third year. It is not, however, generally 

 known that the male is capable of increasing his 

 kind a year earlier than the female, so that a brood 

 may be obtained from an old hen, and a cock-bird 

 in his second year. In selecting a pair, the great 

 thing is to make sure of having two birds of oppo- 

 site sexes. Two cock-birds will not live together, 

 and their mutual aversion would soon show that 

 all was not right; but two hens will, which is the 

 case also with pigeons. A friend of mine pro- 

 cured a couple of swans; they were affectionate 

 and happy in each other's society ; in due time they 

 made their nest and laid. Great were the expec- 

 tations; such a plenty of eggs! both swans assid- 

 nous in sitting — rather suspicious that — the pro- 

 duce addle-eggs. The two ladies could not raise 

 up a family between them. 



In selecting any water-birds whose plumage is 

 alike in both sexes, and which therefore cannot be 

 distinguished with certainty, the best rule is to see 

 them in the water, and take that which swims 

 deepest for the female, and that which floats with 

 greatest buoyancy for the male, remembering that 

 all creatures of the masculine gender have the 

 largest lungs in proportion to their size. The 

 neck of the cock-bird is usually thicker. An ex- 

 perienced eye, will, besides, detect a certain fem- 

 inine gentleness and modesty in the one, and an 

 alacrity and boldness in the other, which is a tol- 

 erably safe guide, as well as an appropriate and 

 becoming attribute to the creatures themselves. 



Supposing the reader to have obtained two cyg- 

 nets that are not mere friends, but actually husband 

 and wife, he will recollect that those reserved for 

 fatting are never pinioned, lest it should check 

 their progress, and he will request the operation 

 to be performed before he has them home, in order 

 that they may have the fewest possible disagreea- 

 ble reminiscences connected with the spot where 

 they are to spend their lives. There are two ways 

 of pinioning birds; at the elbow joint and at the 

 wrist, The amputation of the part of the wing 

 which corresponds to our hand, is quite sufficient 

 to prevent the flight of the short-winged species, 

 as far as migration is concerned, disfigures them 



