SWAN SHOOTING. 24$ 



from time to time, which they occasionally tie out when 

 they go to shoot geese, but on the whole the number 

 of swans killed each year is very small, and does not 

 nearly equal the young bred each season. There seems 

 good reason for believing, therefore, that the swans are 

 holding their own, if not increasing, and in many of 

 the localities where they pass the winter, professional 

 gunners aver that the swans are now more numerous 

 than they were in old times. 



Swans do not dive, but bring up their food from the 

 bottom by reaching down with their long necks and 

 tearing off the grass with their powerful bills. They 

 are wary birds and not easily approached. Sometimes 

 they sit on the water long enough for a boat to sail up 

 within shot of them, but this is unusual. They rise 

 from the water slowly, flying a long way before they 

 fairly get up into the air, paddling with their great feet, 

 and striking the water with the tips of their strong 

 wings, so as to make a great noise. As they can rise 

 only against the wind, advantage is sometimes taken 

 of this fact to sail down on them, and a shot may 

 then be had. When changing from one feeding 

 ground to another, or from the feeding to the roosting 

 ground, they usually fly high, provided the weather is 

 calm and bright; but if the wind blows hard, or it is 

 raining or snowing, they often pass along within easy 

 gunshot of the marsh, and it is on such occasions that 

 they are chiefly killed. Each flock usually follows the 

 course taken by its predecessor, and if the gunner hap- 

 pens to be in the line of flight, and the weather condi- 



