MUTE SWAN. 



19 



The legs of the adult bird are black and its irides brown, but 

 in the young they are reddish, even after the greyish-brown 

 dress is lost. The patch on the bill is at first fleshy, and is 

 paler in the second year than when fully mature. Length, 

 about 50 ins. Wing, 21 ins. Tarsus, 3'8 ins. 



Mute Swan. Cy(:;ims olor (Gmelin). 



The wild Mute Swan (Plate 10) nests in northern Europe 

 so far south as Denmark and north Germany, and migrates in 

 winter to the Mediterranean and northern Africa ; it also 

 breeds in central Asia, and occasionally reaches north-west 

 India. Probably some of the birds which visit our shores in 

 winter are wild migrants, but the Swan has been so long 

 domesticated or semi-domesticated, and so many live a free 

 and independent life, that the origin of any particular bird is 

 obscure. Home-bred birds may become feral, may even erai- 

 grate and return as winter visitors, or our resident stock may 

 be recruited from the Continent. 



The Mute Swan may at once be known by the black knob or 

 *' berry" at the base of its orange bill ; this tubercle is smaller 

 in the female. It may also be recognised by the graceful S 

 curve of its head and neck, and its frequent habit of swimming 

 with the wings half raised and the tail pointed slightly upwards. 

 Young birds as a rule carry the neck straighter, and the alert, 

 perhaps migrant birds that I have seen on the shore stiffened 

 their necks when approached and readily took wing. In flight 

 the wing strokes are deliberate but very powerful, and throb 

 rather than whistle ; the noise reminds me of horses galloping 

 on hard ground. The name Mute is misleading, for the 

 bird, especially the male or " cob " when guarding the nest, 

 has a defiant trumpet note — an explosive grunt. The sitting 

 bird will hiss defiance. The song — -Yarrell's " soft low voice " — 

 is only heard in the breeding season. The food consists 



