I02 JUNGLE FOLK 



Considering its size, the swan has a very small brain ; 

 hence it is not overburdened with inteUigence. Mr. 

 H. E. Watson relates how one day when shooting in 

 Sind he came across five swans on a tank. " They let 

 the boat get pretty close," he writes, *' and I shot one. 

 The other four flew round the tank a few times and 

 then settled on it again. I went up in the boat and 

 fired again, but without effect. They flew round, and 

 then settled again. The third time I shot another ; the 

 three remaining again flew round and settled, and the 

 fourth time I fired I did not kill. Exactly the same 

 thing happened the fifth time ; the birds flew round 

 and round, and settled close to me, and I shot a third. 

 The remaining two flew a little distance, and settled, 

 but I thought it would be a pity to kill them ... so I 

 began to shoot ducks, and then the two remaining 

 swans flew by me, one on the right and one on the left, 

 so that I could easily have knocked them over with 

 small shot." What a pity swans are such rare visitors 

 to India ! What grand birds they m.ust be for an 

 indifferent shot. One swan on a small jhil would give 

 a really bad gunner a whole morning's shooting ; it 

 would circle round and round the sportsman at short 

 range, letting him blaze off to his heart's content until 

 it fell a victim to its trustfulness ! Try to imagine the 

 so-called stupid goose behaving in this manner. 



The swan is a very silent bird in captivity, for this 

 reason it is called the mute swan. The only noise I 

 have ever heard it make is a hiss when it is angry. At 

 the breeding season it is said to trumpet sometimes. 

 The ancients believed that the swan, though mute 



