92 



FOREIGN NOTICES. 



less than the closer pruning, and still leaves them 

 the means of escape from a dog or a poacher, al- 

 lows them now and then in their gambols to fancy 

 they are free, and to enjoy a sort of half-run, half- 

 fly from the lawn into ttie water. Kindness, com- 

 fort, and good feeding must be employed to keep 

 them at home as far as possible ; but the loss of the 

 last joint only of the wing will not be enough to 

 prevent swans from joining any travelling com- 

 panions who are on their way to the Arctic circle. 

 I should recommend the female to be pinioned at 

 the wrist, and the male at the elbow, trusting to 

 their mutual attachment to keep the less maimed 

 bird from deserting her mate. But however it be 

 done, let it be set about in a workmanlike man- 

 ner; no chopping nor hacking, nor hewing nor 

 butchering. Many cygnets are annually killed by 

 the clumsy way in which their wing is lopped off. 

 They sutler from the shock to their nervous sys- 

 tem, as much as from the haemorrhage. 



A skillful operator will feel for the joint, di- 

 vide the skin, and turn the bone neatly out of the 

 socket. I will allow him to shed just one drop of 

 blood — no more. I would be as hard upon him 

 as Portia was upon the flesh-cutting Jew. 



" This bond doth give thee here no jot of blood; 

 The words expressly are, a limb of swan ; 

 Take then thy bond, take thou thy limb of swan ; 

 But in the cutting it, if thou dost shed 

 One drop of cygnine blood, thy clumsiness 

 Shall brand the name of ' Bungler ' on thy back. 

 Therefore, prepare thee to cut off the limb. 

 Shed thou no blood ; nor cut thou less, nor more 

 But just the very limb ; if thou tak'st more 

 Or less, than just ttie limb, thou shalt bewail 

 The consequence." 



If any brook runs into and from the pond where 

 they are to remain, their escape through that chan- 

 nel must be prevented by sheep-netting, hurdles, 

 pales, or other fencing, which should be continued 

 some distance inland, lest they should walk away, 

 if they cannot swim away. This precaution will 

 be found particularly necessary if there is any 

 main stream in the immediate neighborhood. A 

 feeding trough may be fixed for them in the pond, 

 in the part where it is most desirable that they 

 should be accustomed to display themselves Those 

 who are fastidious about the sight of such an ob- 

 ject, or who wish to have it thought the swans 

 keep so much in view from purely disinterested 

 motives (from simple affection to their masters, 

 not to their greedy love of corn) may contrive to 

 have it hid beneath a bank or behind a tree or 

 shrub. The trough must be fixed in the pond on 

 two firm posts, within arm's length of the shore, 

 raised high enough from the water to prevent 

 ducks from stealing the food contained therein, 

 having a cover which lifts up by hinges, and so 

 forms a lid, to keep out rats and sparrows, and 

 open only in front. Many persons, however, feed 

 their swans by simply throwing the corn into 

 shallow water. They will skim the surface for 

 the light grains which float, and then submerge 

 their heads in search of that which has sunk. — 

 Should any carp, (that fresh water fox,) be occu- 



pants of the same lake, it will be found that they 

 soon learn the accustomed hours of feeding, and 

 will come to take their share along with their 

 feathered friends. But it is cruel to locate a pair 

 of swans for the sake of their beauty, in a new 

 made piece of water whose banks and bottom are 

 as barren and bare as the inside of a hand-basin. 

 A load or two of water-weeds should have been 

 thrown in, the previous spring, to propagate them- 

 selves and afford pasturage. Sometimes after an 

 old established sheet has been cleansed at a great 

 expense, it is thought that swans would now look 

 well there, and they arc forthwith turned in to be 

 starved ; whereas they would thankfully haA r e un- 

 dertaken the cleansing task for nothing. Swan 

 food exists in proportion to the shallowness and 

 foulness, not to the extent and clearness of the 

 water. A yard of margin is worth a mile of deep 

 stream; one muddy Norfolk broad, with its oozy 

 banks, labyrinthine creeks, and its forest of rushes, 

 reeds and sedges, is better in this respect than all 

 " the blue rushing of the arrowy Rhone," or the 

 whole azure expanse of the brilliant Lake of 

 Geneva. 



In confined waters swans require a liberal sup- 

 ply of food in the Autumn, when the weeds run 

 short. It should be remembered that at this sea- 

 son they have to supply themselves with a new 

 suit of clothes, as well as to maintain their daily 

 strength. If they had not been taught to eat 

 corn, and have not acquired a notion of grazing, 

 they will perish from starvation as undoubtedly as 

 a canary bird neglected in its cage. Young birds 

 are apt to be fanciful or stupid, and have not sense 

 enough to come on the bank and eat grass, or 

 pick up the threshed corn which may be thrown 

 down to them. Sometimes they may be tempted 

 with a lock of unthreshed Barley or Oats, thrown, 

 straw and all, into the water, which they will in- 

 stinctively lay hold of and devour. Cygnets which 

 have been previously put up to fatten, will give 

 little or no trouble in this respect, besides the ad- 

 vantage of being accustomed to the near approach 

 of a keeper. 



In one week I lost two swans, a cygnet and a 

 year old bird, from the consequences, I fear, of a 

 few days' short diet at moulting time. Suspecting 

 foul play from some ill-natured person I caused a 

 post mortem examination to be made of that which 

 died last ; but in a literal sense nothing could be 

 found. The poor thing was empty and emaciated 

 though it had been fed with corn two or three days 

 before, and though it had only to ascend a bank a 

 foot high to enjoy a plentiful feast of good grass. 

 It had been seen sailing about in apparent health 

 and spirits the previous evening, and my mind is 

 not yet quite satisfied about the subject. The fol- 

 lowing remarks may perhaps afford some clue in 

 similar cases. 



" Swans wandering by night, in search of wa- 

 tercresses chiefly, are always in danger from the 

 different vermin which prey upon poultry and 



