MUTE SWAN. 325 



The male Swan has frequently been styled " the peace- 

 ful monarch of the lake " ; but this is his character during 

 part of the year only ; for during the season of incubation 

 and rearing the young there is scarcely any bird more pug- 

 nacious, and from his great size and power he is in reahty 

 a monarch to be feared and avoided by all that inhabit his 

 domain. 



The nest, consisting of a large mass of reeds, rushes, and 

 other coarse herbage, is formed on the ground near the 

 edge of the water, and an island is generally chosen rather 

 thaa the bank. The female produces six or seven eggs ; * 

 these are of a dull greenish-white, averaging 4 inches^ by 

 2-8 in. Incubation lasts six weeks, during which time 

 the male is in constant attendance upon the female, occa- 

 sionally taking her place upon the eggs, or guarding her 

 with jealous care, giving chase and battle, if necessary, to 

 every intruder. 



The young, when hatched, which is generally about the 

 end of May, are conducted to the water by the parent birds, 

 and are even said to be carried there : it is certain that the 

 cygnets are frequently carried on the back of the female 

 when she is sailing about in the water. This the Author 

 has witnessed on the Thames, and has seen the female, by 

 raising her leg, assist the cygnets in getting upon her back. 

 He thought it probable that carrying the young might only 

 be resorted to when the brood inhabited a river, to save the 

 young the labour of following the parent against the stream ; 

 but, during the summer of 1841, a female Swan was fre- 

 quently seen carrying her young on the lake in St. James's 

 Park, where there is no current to impede their course. A 

 short quotation from the first volume of ' Gleanings in 

 Natural History,' by Mr. Jesse, corroborates several points 

 in the habits of this bird :— " Living on the banks of the 

 Thames, I have often been pleased with seeing the care 

 taken of the young Swans by the parent birds. Where the 



* Mr. Stevenson (Zool. 1883, p. 37) mentions twelve young hatched out in a 

 single brood ; and states that a female, for several years in succession, reared 

 ten and eleven young. 



