MUTE SWAN. 1G3 



Hens. This is by some persons deemed an omen of a very- 

 deep summer flood.' 



Yarrell relates the following similar account of one of these 

 birds, as given to him by Lord Braybrooke. 'This Swan was 

 eighteen or nineteen years old, had brought up many broods, 

 and was highly valued in the neighbourhood. She exhibited, 

 some eight or nine years past, one of the most remarkable 

 instances of the powers of instinct that was ever recorded. 

 She was sitting on four or five eggs, and was observed to be 

 very busy in collecting weeds, grasses, etc., to raise her nest; 

 a farming man was ordered to take down half a load of haulm, 

 with which she most industriously raised her nest and the eggs 

 two feet and a half: that very night there came down a 

 tremendous fall of rain, which flooded all the malthouses and 

 did much damage. Man made no preparation, the bird did. 

 Instinct prevailed over reason; her eggs were above, and only 

 just above, the water.' 



The ordinary number of eggs laid by this Swan is from 

 two to four, sometimes five, occasionally six, and not very 

 rarely eight. In one instance as many as nine were laid, and 

 all of them successfully hatched, in the Jephson Gardens, 

 Leamington. It is possible, however, that two birds may 

 have made use of the same nest, and, if so, the one under 

 whose care all came, proved no 'injusta noverca,' but tended 

 all with the like attention. At Beddington Park, in Norfolk, 

 twelve eggs were deposited, and the brood all reared, in 1850. 



The nest of this Swan, when the first egg is laid, is small 

 in size, but, as by degrees a larger family is expected, she 

 adds to the size of it by clutching at every suitable material 

 in its vicinity, and this even to a greater extent than appears 

 to be, or indeed is, at all necessary. Instinct suggests this 

 for a wise purpose; but where reason would say 'hold, enough,' 

 the former displays its inferiority by not knowing where to 

 stop. 



The eggs are from five or six to seven or eight in number, 

 older birds laying the larger, and younger the fewer numbers 

 respectively. They are of a dull greenish white colour. 



Incubation continues for from five to six weeks. After 

 being hatched for one day, they follow the guidance of their 

 parents to the water, and have but little instruction, beyond 

 that instinctively given by nature, in the art of swimming 

 about and feeding themselves. Still, 'The attention,' says 

 Meyer, 'bestowed by the old birds upon the young is incessant; 



