82 ADVENTURES AMONG BIRDS 



weeks till the sketching was done and Miss Guinness 

 went away on a visit. Again the poor bird was alone 

 and miserable until a man was sent to work in the 

 shrubbery by the lake and at once the swan made a 

 companion of him ; each morning it would come from 

 the lake to meet him to spend the whole day in his 

 company. In due time the work was finished and 

 the man went away. Once more the swan was miser- 

 able, and it made the lady of the house unhappy to 

 see it, so anxious appeared the bird to be with her 

 whenever she went near the lake, so distressed when 

 she left it. All at once there was a change in its be- 

 haviour ; it was no longer waiting and watching for 

 a visitor to the lake-side and ready to leave the water 

 on her appearance. It now appeared quite contented 

 to be alone and would rest on the water at the same 

 spot for an hour at a time, floating motionless or else 

 propelling itself with such a slow and gentle move- 

 ment of its oars as to make it appear almost stationary. 

 It was an astonishing change but a welcome one, as 

 the unhappiness of the swan had begun to make every- 

 body feel bad and now it looked as if the poor bird 

 had become reconciled to a solitary life. A little later 

 the reason of this change appeared when the extra- 

 ordinary discovery was made that the swan was not 

 alone after all, that he had a friend who was constantly 

 with him — a big trout ! The fish had his place at the 

 side of the bird, just below the surface, and together 

 they would rest and together move like one being. 

 Those who first saw it could hardly credit the evidence 



