THE AMERICAN SWAN. £95 



bill stout." (Coues). Habitat: Eastern United States; 

 local, not common. 



On a bright morning, on the 8th of May, I am on the 

 shore of Lake Ontario, at the mouth of Johnson's Creek. 

 The warm spring sun causes a soft white mist to rise from 

 the whole surface of the lake, giving this grand sheet of 

 water a most magnificent appearance — like that of bur- 

 nished silver. From some distance out I can hear the 

 clangor of the voices of immense numbers of Loons, or 

 Great Northern Divers. The air is very salubrious, and 

 being in good health, I am conscious of an unutterable joy 

 in the contemplation of nature. Every breath is a soul- 

 stimulus, and physical existence is blissful. But in such 

 moments it is difficult to distinguish between that conscious- 

 ness which is of the soul, and that which is of the body, so 

 intimately do these two sources of the individual sense mix 

 and blend together; and even the material forms around us 

 have a spiritual ideal with which the mind may hold com- 

 munion. 



THE AMERICAN SWAN. 



In the midst of my reverie my attention is arrested by 

 the remains of a Swan {Cygnus americanus)^ which have floated 

 upon the shore. Tufts of the fine plumage are still adher- 

 ing, while many parts of the skeleton are entirely denuded 

 by the effects of time and water. I pluck a handful of the 

 snowy feathers from the disfigured form of this wonderful 

 bird, which, by some means unknown, has perished in the 

 course of its long migration. As I examine them I am re- 

 minded how all warm-blooded animals require some cover- 

 ing for the retention of animal heat. The ordinary mam- 

 mal has a coat of hair, suited to climate, season, and the 

 peculiar conditions of its habitat. The human race may 



