FOREIGN NOTICES. 



93 



trame — weasels, stoats, polecats, &c. And swans 

 thus destroyed exhibit no wounds or marks upon 

 the body, bul upon the head and neck, where, on 

 a minute inspection, the wounds are discovered 

 through which the vermin have sacked the life- 

 blood, leaving the bulk so little atl'ected that the 

 feathers are unruffled. The wounds appear scarce- 

 ly the si/e of a pin's head, but are generally above 

 half an inch deep. Geese and turkeys are also 

 liable to be destroyed by those nocturnal marau- 

 ders, which, like all boasts of prey, sleep through. 

 out the day." — Moubray on Poultry ,8tk Editiun, 

 p. 128. 



One would doubt the fact of so large a bird as 

 the swarf falling a victim to a wretched little 

 weasel. But a relation of mine had a pair of 

 Canada geese, birds little inferior in size to the 

 swan, which in the breeding time were suffered to 

 shift their quarters from the farm-yard, their usual 

 abode, to a neighboring broad, where he had 

 rights. After a time one bird returned home alone 

 and its missinn mate was at length discovered, 

 half-decomposed, on a sedgy islet in the broad, in 

 such a position as to indicate that it had been sur- 

 prised and killed by one of the larger weasels, a 

 stoat, or a polecat. 



Considerable difference of opinion has been en- 

 tertained respecting the diet of the swan ; some 

 supposing it to be exclusively vegetable, others 

 believing that fish enter largely into it. My own 

 observations tend to prove that a very considerable 

 part, of their nutriment is obtained from minute 

 insects and molluscs. The sluggish, weedy waters, 

 where swans thrive best, abound with such crea- 

 tures; and the whale is a sufficient example that 

 the size of the prey is no index to the magnitude 

 of the creatures that subsist on it. Swans fall off 

 in condition very rapidly in autumn, however libe- 

 rallv thev are supplied with corn, immediately 

 that the temperature drops to any extent, and the 

 minor inhabitants of the pools disappear into their 

 winter retreats. A very small fish now and then 

 might not come amiss to them, and spawn would 

 be greedily devoured A swan must be consider- 

 ably more destructive in this respect than the poor 

 little water ouzel, which is so bitterly persecuted 

 along the salmon streams of Scotland, for the al- 

 leged injury it does to the ova of the fish. The 

 seeds of grasses, and the soft, starchy parts of 

 aquatic plants, are no doubt a considerable portion 

 of the daily ration of the swan. It seems to pre- 

 fer sloppy, half-decayed vegetation, to that which 

 is fresh and crisp. Sparc garden-stuff, spinach, 

 and such like, thrown out for them is liked the 

 better for having lain soaking at least 24 hours, 

 that is, in such time as it has become sodden and 

 attacked by small fresh-water shell fish. If their 

 mode of feeding is watched, it will be found to 

 countenance the popular belief that many birds 

 live " by suction;" they appear to suck down the 

 pappy food, which pleases them best rather than 

 fairly to crop and swallow it. The swan, con- 

 suming the submerged refuse of plants, is thus the 



scavenger of the waters, as the hya*na and the 

 vulture arc of the land. In such countries as Hol- 

 land, and still more about the deltas of large 

 rivers in the south of Europe and western Asia, 

 their influence must be very beneficial. Indeed 

 we are compelled to believe that they have been 

 bountifully created to fulfil this office of cleansing 

 the half-stagnant water-courses. Unlike the old 

 dragons that could exhale a pestilence and infect 

 a whole district with their breath, these winged 

 tenants of the marsh swallow many a plague and 

 fever up. Not a little miasma has travelled 

 harmlessly down the throats of swans. They can 

 fatten on poisons, although ignorant of King Mith- 

 ridates, his antidote. 



A curious instance of the animal diet of the 

 swan once occurred to myself. The common 

 brown shrimp, it is well known, inhabits and 

 thrives in waters less strongly impregnated with 

 salt than the open sea, which is not the case with 

 several other species; and I was desirous of try- 

 ing whether it were possible to stock with them a 

 piece of water absolutely fresh. A quantity were 

 procured and brought home in a fish-kettle of tidal 

 river water; but the heat of the weather at the 

 time was much against the success of the experi- 

 ment. On arriving at their journey's end the 

 great majority were dead. They were all, how- 

 ever, turned out together: a few swam off appa- 

 rently unaffected by the unwonted element, and 

 were never seen or heard of afterwards ; the rest 

 sank to the bottom ; when one of my swans, ex- 

 pecting her feed of % corn, sailed up and began 

 feasting on the dead shrimps, crushing them in 

 her bill before she swallowed them, and appearing 

 much to relish her meal. 



The difficulty there sometimes is in getting 

 swans to eat corn, or to graze like geese, shows 

 that either diet is with them an acquired taste. 



At the proper age and season they will show a 

 disposition to breed, if well fed, although restrict- 

 ed within comparatively narrow limits. As soon 

 as they have decidedly fixed upon the spot for 

 their nest, it will be an assistance to take them 

 two or three barrowfuls of coarse litter. Sedges 

 and rushes are the best, with perhaps a few sticks, 

 which they can arrange at their own pleasure. 

 The number of eggs laid will vary from five or 

 six to ten, but the number of cygnets hatched 

 seems, like the fall of lambs, to depend t muoh 

 upon the season and the weather of the few pre- 

 ceding months. One year the three pairs of swans 

 nearest to me had each a brood of nine — 27 cyg- 

 nets in only three families. But this is above the 

 average. I have, however, seen seven reared on 

 a very small moat. It is better not to gratify 

 any unnecessary curiosity respecting the eggs ; 

 indeed the parent birds will hardly allow it. The 

 cock makes great show, and often more than 

 show, of fight against interlopers. A blow from 

 bis pinion on land is better avoided; and in the 

 water he would bother the strongest swimmer to 

 escape from his fury. I was once attacked by a 



