THE BLACK SWAN. 



(STYuSTRALIA is the home of 

 Ai-1 the Black Swan, and it is 

 fill invested by an even greater 

 y ^ X^ interest than attaches to 

 the South American 

 bird, which is white. For many cen- 

 turies it was considered to be an impos- 

 sibility, but by a singular stroke of 

 fortune, says a celebrated naturalist, 

 we are able to name the precise day on 

 which this unexpected discovery was 

 made. The Dutch navigator William 

 de Vlaming, visiting the west coast of 

 Southland, sent two of his boats on 

 the 6th of January, 1697, to explore an 

 estuary he had found. There their 

 crews saw at first two and then more 

 Black swans, of which they caught 

 four, taking two of them alive to Bat- 

 avia ; and Valentyn, who several years 

 later recounted this voyage, gives in 

 his work a plate representing the ship, 

 boats, and birds, at the mouth of what 

 is now known from this circumstance 

 as the Swan river, the most important 

 stream of the thriving colony of West 

 Australia, which has adopted this 

 Swan as its armorial symbol. Subse- 

 quent voyagers, Cook and others, found 

 that the range of the species extended 

 over the greater part of Australia, in 

 many districts of which it was abund- 

 ant. It has since rapidly decreased in 

 number there, and will most likely 

 soon cease to exist as a wild bird, but 

 its singular and ornamental appearance 

 will probably preserve it as a modified 

 captive in most civilized countries, 

 and it is said, perhaps even now there 

 are more Black Swans in a reclaimed 

 condition in other lands than are at 

 large in their mother country. 



The erect and graceful carriage of 

 the Swan always excites the admira- 

 tion of the beholder, but the gentle 

 bird has other qualities not commonly 

 known, one of which is great power ol 

 wing. The Zoologist gives a curious 

 incident relating to this subject. An 

 American physician writing to that 

 journal, says that the first case of frac- 

 ture with which he had to deal was 

 one of the forearm caused by the blows 

 of a Swan's wing. It was during the 

 winter of 1870, at the Lake of Swans, 

 in Mississippi, that the patient was 

 hunting at* night, in a small boat and 

 by the light of torches. In the course 

 of their maneuvers a flock of Swans 

 was suddenly encountered which 

 took to flight without regard to 

 anything that might be in the way. 

 As the man raised his arm instinctively 

 to ward off the swiftly rising birds, he 

 was struck on his forearm by the wing 

 of one of the Swans in the act of 

 getting under motion, and as the action 

 and labor of lifting itself were very 

 great, the arm was badly broken, both 

 bones being fractured. 



When left to itself the nest of the 

 Swan is a large mass of aquatic plants, 

 often piled to the height of a couple 

 of feet and about six feet in diameter. 

 In the midst of this is a hollow which 

 contains the eggs, generally from five 

 to ten in number. They sit upon the 

 eggs between five and six weeks. 



It is a curious coincidence that this 

 biographical sketch should have been 

 written and a faithful portrait for the 

 first time shown on the two hundredth 

 anniversary of the discovery of the 

 Black Swan. 



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