252 REPTILES AND BIRDS. 
the water by every claim which can constitute an empire of peace, 
grandeur, majesty, and kindness. . . . . He lives more in the 
character of a friend than a monarch amid the numerous tribes of 
aquatic birds, all of which seem willingly to place themselves under 
his rule.” 
The great naturalist allowed himself to be led away by his en- 
thusiasm, and perhaps by his classic recollections ; for the swan, al- 
though elegant and majestic in form and graceful in its movements 
on the water, is clumsy and awkward when on land; it is, besides, 
spiteful and quarrelsome. It attacks every animal, and even man. 
The swans in the gardens of the Luxembourg at Paris had taken an 
aversion to all the keepers, and whenever they saw one, they all 
came out of the water in order to attack him. 
The principal strength of the swan does not lie in its beak, but 
in its wings—a most effective offensive weapon, and which it takes 
every opportunity to use. In spite of its bad qualities, however, the 
swan is the most ornamental of all our aquatic birds. 
Its song, or rather its cry, is indeed far from being harmonious. 
It is a dull and harsh sibilation, not at all agreeable to listen to. 
Some of the poets, however, have not believed the fable which at- 
tributes to these birds a sonorous and melodious voice. Virgil 
perfectly well knew how hoarse the note of the swan really was— 
**Dant sonitum rauci per stagna loquacia cygni.” 
g y 
Lucretius says— 
** Parvus cygni canor.” 
‘THE WHISTLING Swan (Cygnus ferus, Fig. 93). 
This is, in all probability, the Swan so celebrated among the 
ancients. It is found in the northern regions of Europe and Asia ; 
residing in summer within the Arctic circle, and migrating south- 
wards and visiting Holland, France, and the British Islands in 
winter, although occasionally breeding in the north of Scotland. 
Southward, it extends to Barbary and Egypt; eastward, it wanders 
as far as Japan. ‘The note of the Wild Swan is a sort of whoop, 
uttered several times in succession—a hoarse, hard, and rather dis- 
cordant cry—and this has given it the name we have adopted ; for it 
is difficult to imagine the grounds on which the Prince of Canino 
gave it the name C YONUS MUSICUS. 
The peculiar organic distinction of the Swan is the great length 
of the neck, consisting of twenty-three vertebree, and the cavity in 
