94 



FOREIGN NOTICES. 



swan when walking too intrusively near his lady's 

 lying-in bed; he was keeping guard by sailing in 

 short taeks backwards and forwards before her, 

 but he left the water to give me a forcible hint to 

 go about my own business. The only tiling was 

 to meet the threatened danger; so seizing his 

 neck in one hand and his outstretched wing in the 

 other, I tossed him as far into the middle of the 

 stream us I could. He seemed a little astonished 

 for a few moments, but lashing the waters into 

 foam he would have renewed the attack had I not 

 speedily withdrawn from his dominions. Coming 

 to close quarters with them is the surest mode of 

 defence. The blow of a swan's wing, to take 

 effect, must hit a certain distance. It, is clear 

 they are mischievously minded at such times ; but 

 I think that the real danger to be apprehended 

 has, from policy, been exaggerated, that it may 

 act as a sort of guardian dragon to the tempting 

 fruit of the Hesperides. There are possibly per- 

 sons living who would not be unwilling to have it 

 believed that hares and pheasants are most for- 

 midable creatures to encounter, especially on 

 moonlight nights. 



The cygnets when first hatched are of a slaty 

 grey, inclining to mouse color. The time of in- 

 cubation is six weeks, or thereabouts. A common 

 notion in Norfolk is that the cygnets cannot be 

 hatched till a thunder-storm comes to break the 

 shells, and that the hen will go on sitting till the 

 birth of her young ones is complimented with that 

 portentous salute. A swan might boast with 

 Owen Glendower — 



"At my nativity 

 The front of heaven was full of fiery shapes, 

 Of burning cressets ; know, that at my birth 

 The frame and the foundation of the earth 

 Shook like a coward." 



Let us not reply in the contemptuous language 

 of Hotspur, nor altogether reject the popular idea; 

 the close sultry weather which sometimes for two 

 or three days precedes a tempest, would hasten 

 the development of chicks that were nearly arrived 

 at the hatching point. What effect electrical 

 oscillations have on animal life we as yet know 

 not, but our own feelings tell us they have some. 

 The happy parents will charge themselves with 

 the entire maintenance of their tender young, if 

 they have but the range of a large extent of river 

 banks and shallow water; will lead them up the 

 quiet ditches, point out the juicy blade, the float- 

 ing seed, the struggling insect, the sinuous worm; 

 will then steer to shoals left by some circling 

 eddy, and stirring up the soft sediment with their 

 broad feet show that minute but nutritious parti- 

 cles may thence be extracted. As hunger is 

 satisfied and weariness comes on, the mother will 

 sink in the stream till her back becomes an easy 

 landing place, and the nurslings are thus transfer- 

 red in a secure and downy cradle to fresh feeding 

 places. 



But in a restricted beat they must not be left 

 altogether to themselves. A gently sloping bank 



will enable them to repair at pleasure to the 

 grassy margin. The old ones must have plenty 

 of corn, which they will by and bye teach their 

 young to cat; tender vegetables from the kitchen 

 garden, such as Endive, Lettuce, or Cress, will 

 help to sustain them, besides attracting those 

 soft-bodied water creatures that are of all food 

 the most needful. Pollard frequently scattered 

 on the surface of the pond will be of material as- 

 sistance, and whatever it is found that they will 

 eat let them have in the greatest abundance. 

 Their growth is rapid ; their weight should be 

 considerable with but little time to acquire it in. 

 The period cannot be extended much longer than 

 from June to the end of November. 9y Christ- 

 mas they must all either be eaten, or have emi- 

 grated, when the parents will begin to direct 

 their thoughts forward to a succeeding family. 



A fat cygnet is a capital dish, and deserves a 

 higher repute than it generally obtains. Its state- 

 ly appearance on the table is alone worth some- 

 thing. Those who have only a good sized pond, 

 say from a quarter to half an acre of water, may 

 rear and fat an annual brood. In so small a space, 

 the old birds must of course share with their young 

 the extra supply of fatting corn ; but they will 

 get through the winter the better for it, and be 

 more prolific in the spring. Neither they nor 

 their cygnets should at any time be allowed to 

 get poor. 



When cygnets are removed from their parents 

 to be fatted in a regular swan-pond, it is usual to 

 separate them at the end of August or the begin- 

 ning of September. At first Grass is thrown into 

 the water to them twice a day with their other 

 food ; but this is not continued for more than a 

 fortnight. A coomb of Barley is the established 

 allowance to fat each swan. The corn is put into 

 shallow tubs set just under water. The birds are 

 considered worth from 10s. to 12s. each when 

 they are " hopped " or " upped " from their native 

 streams, but when brought into prime condition 

 21., formerly 21. 2s. They may occasionally be 

 hajl for less, in which case they make a cheap as 

 well as a handsome dish to set. before a large din- 

 ner party. Their weight in the feathers varies 

 from 25 lbs. to 28 lbs., and sometimes, though 

 rarely, 30 lbs. They are never better than in the 

 month of October, when the gastronomical inquirer, 

 who is as yet unacquainted with their merits, is 

 recommended to give them a fair and impartial 

 trial. They may be had till Christmas, after 

 which they are good for nothing. A bird weigh- 

 ing 28 lbs. before Christmas, has been known to 

 shrink to 17 or 18 lbs. by the end of January, in 

 spite of high feeding. Therefore, make hay while 

 the sun shines, Mr. Epicure. As, in the spring, 

 the Snowdrop gives way to the Primrose and the 

 Violet, so, in autumn, the swan yields its place on 

 the board to the turkey and the guinea-fowl. If 

 to-day is lost, to-morrow the opportunity will have 

 flown, in higher concerns than mere eating and 

 drinking. Now — or, perhaps, never. 



