72 



BIRDS OP NORFOLK. 



turing the cygnets, or seizing the old swans to examine 

 their marks, are most liable to attack. Eich once 

 knew a man's finger dislocated when thus employed ; 

 and Trett's father had on one occasion a thumb put 

 out of joint, and on another a very serious blow on 

 the back from the stump of a pinioned wing. In the 

 latter case the man was attacked by an old male swan, 

 as he was examining the eggs in a nest, to which, 

 being in a boggy place, he had crawled on his hands and 

 knees. The swan coming up behind him, unperceived, 

 struck him so violently on the back that he had difficulty 

 in regaining his boat, where he laid for some time in 

 great pain, and though he managed at length to pull home, 

 he was confined to his bed for more than a week. Rich 

 has himself been struck on the thigh, in like manner, 

 and describes the force of the blow and the pain occa- 

 sioned by it as something incredible. 



To return, however, to the nesting habits of this 

 species, the cock swan is, I find, not merely the guardian 

 of the nest he has helped to build or to raise, but usually 

 sits for two or three days before the hen begins to lay, 

 thus shaping and warming the interior at the same time. 

 Whilst the female is laying her full complement of eggs 

 — which she does at the rate of about ten eggs in fourteen 

 days — the cock takes charge of and broods them in her 

 absence, often most reluctantly resigning his post on her 

 return. The female, wherever coarse herbage is at hand 

 ' — and in some cases dried litter is supplied for that 

 purpose — covers her eggs when she goes off to feed, and 

 her mate usually uncovers them wholly or partially 

 before taking his turn ; and as the hen invariably dries 

 herself before resuming her sitting, her spouse awaits 

 the completion of her toilet, and has even then not 

 unfrequently to be shouldered ofi". In instances where 

 the female has unfortunately died before her eggs have 

 been hatched, the cock swan has been known to con- 



