NATATORES. 349 



In disposition, unless molested, or its precincts intruded 

 upon, it is as tame, gentle, and harmless as it is graceful and 

 ornamental in appearance, and as it readily becomes domesti- 

 cated there are few aviaries in Europe which are not adorned 

 with its presence. 



But no one has been so fortunate in breeding the Black 

 Swan as Samuel Gurney, Esq., and the following account of 

 the fecundity of a single pair kept by that gentleman on his 

 estate at Carshalton, on the River Wandle, in Surrey, I con- 

 sider to be of the highest interest : — " They were," says Mr. 

 Gurney, "purchased from Baker, of Leadenhall Market, in 

 1851 ; they did not breed until 1854, when they laid their first 

 egg on January 1. It was a most severe winter — snow on 

 the ground and intense frost nearly the whole time they were 

 sitting. They hatched their young daring the greatest cold 

 of that winter, from which they did not suffer, though they 

 had no shelter of any kind, and their nest was fully exposed 

 to the east wind. Out of the ninety-three young ones 

 hatched by them up to this present year, 18G2 (inclusive), 

 about half that number have been reared. Some of them 

 have died from disease ; but most of them have been killed 

 by the old ones dragging them about in the fields, when they 

 have fallen into small holes on their backs, and have not been 

 able to recover themselves. They have bred sixteen times in 

 seven years, having laid one hundred and eleven eggs. The 

 nest was composed of a large heap of rushes, collected by 

 themselves, to which they were continually adding during 

 incubation. The male and female would sit alternately on 

 the nest. The male bird was found dead on February 17, 

 1862. No cause could be assigned for his death, as he had 

 been in perfect health." 



The whole of the plumage brownish black, the under sur- 

 face paler than the upper ; the feathers of the back tipped 

 with greyish brown ; primaries and secondaries pure white ; 

 bill beautiful pinky scarlet, crossed near the tip with a broad 



