THE SONG OF THE SWAN. 251 
monious, and its gracefully-rounded form and stately neck inspired 
many poets, who have described it as the bird of gods and god- 
desses. The poetical imagination of the Greeks, in short, asso- 
ciated their most agreeable ideas with its name. It was one of 
their pleasing fictions that in dying and breathing out its last sigh, 
Fig. 93.—Mute and Whistling Swans. 
the swan celebrated its death by a melodious song; or, as Eloy 
Johanneau has it— 
‘* Le Cygne, a la fin de la vie, 
Fait entendre un touchant accord, 
. Et d’une voix affaiblie, 
Chante lui-méme en mort.” 
Buffon himself has drawn the portraiture of this bird in words 
poetical, but certainly untrue :—‘‘ The swan,” he says, “reigns over 
