THE BLACK SWAN. 



I advise you little folks to take 

 a good look at me. You don't 

 often see a Black Swan. White 

 Swans are very common, com- 

 mon as white Geese. I only 

 wish I could have had my pic- 

 ture taken while gliding through 

 the water. I am so stately and 

 handsome there. My feet 

 wouldn't have shown either. 



Really I don't think my feet 

 are pretty. They always remind 

 me when I look down at them of 

 a windmill or the sails of a ves- 

 sel. But if they hadn't been 

 made that way, webbed-like, 

 I wouldn't be able to swim as I 

 do. They really are a pair of 

 fine paddles, you know. 



There was a time when people 

 in certain countries thought a 

 Black Swan was an impossi- 

 bility. As long as there were 

 black sheep in the world, I don't 

 see why there shouldn't have 

 been Black Swans, do you? 



Well, one day, a Dutch cap- 

 tain exploring a river in Aus- 

 tralia, saw and captured four of 

 the black fellows. That was 

 way back in sixteen hundred 

 and something, so that one of 

 those very Black Swans must 



have been my great, great, great, 

 great grand father. Indeed he 

 may have been even greater than 

 that, but as I have never been 

 to school, you know, I can't very 

 well count backward. I can 

 move forward, however, when in 

 the water. I make good time 

 there, too. 



Well, to go back to the Dutch 

 captain. Two of the Swans he 

 took alive to Dutchland and 

 everybody was greatly sur- 

 prised. They said "Ach!" and 

 ''Himmel,"andmany other things 

 which I do not remember. Since 

 that time they say the Black 

 Swans have greatly diminished 

 in numbers in Australia. You 

 will find us all over the world 

 now, because we are so orna- 

 mental ; people like to have a 

 few of us in their ponds and 

 lakes. 



They say that river in Aus- 

 tralia which the captain explored 

 was named Swan river, and Aus- 

 tralia took one of us for its 

 armorial symbol. Well, a Black 

 Swan may look well on a shield, 

 but no matter how hard you may 

 pull his tail-feathers, he'll never 

 scream like the American Eagle. 



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