WILD AND TAME SWAN. 197 



ORDER vi. SWIMMERS: 



41. DUCK TRIBE. 



These birds have a strong and broad bill. They subsist 

 on fish, reptiles, worms, insects, and vegetables of different 

 kinds. The species are more than a hundred in number. 



Wild and Tame Swan. Wild Swans sometimes visit 

 the shores of our island in great numbers, during hard 

 frosts, in the midst of winter. They do not, however, 

 breed in this country, but are chiefly found, during the 

 breeding-season, in Norway, Lapland, and other north- 

 ern parts of the continent. They constitute a species 

 entirely different from the Tame Swans; and, from the 

 loud cry which they sometimes utter during their flight, 

 they have also the name of Hoopers. Tame Swans are 

 considerably larger than the wild ones. Though their 

 appearance, out of the water, is extremely awkward and 

 inelegant, their gracefulness, whilst swimming, is very 

 remarkable. They form their nests on the ground, and 

 lay seven or eight eggs, the hatching of which gene- 

 rally occupies about two months. Their chief food 

 consists of water-plants, insects, worms, and fresh- 

 water shell-fish. The ancients have uniformly spoken 

 of the vocal powers of this bird ; and assert, that pre- 

 viously to its death its song is peculiarly beautiful. 

 Hence ^Eschylus, in his Agamemnon, speaking of Cas- 

 sandra, says, 



She, like the Swan 

 Expiring, dies in melody. 



