THE BLACK SWAN 



(Cygnus atratus.) 



For centuries the swans have attract 

 ed the admiring attention of the human 

 race. The beauty of their form, their 

 gracefully arched and curved necks, 

 their powerful flights, and the graceful 

 ness of their aquatic habits have always 

 led to expressions of admiration. They 

 are all large birds and with the excep 

 tion of the Australian species the plum 

 age of the adult is entirely or mainly 

 white. Among the ancients the possi 

 bility of a black swan was not thought 

 of, and when the black species of Aus 

 tralia was first discovered "its existence 

 seems to have impressed the popular 

 mind with the notion of extreme diver 

 gence, not to say the contrariety, 

 of the organic products of that 

 country." It is interesting that we are 

 able to name the exact date on which 

 this bird was discovered. "The Dutch 

 navigator, William de Vlaming, visiting 

 the west coast of Zuidland (Southland) 

 sent two of his boats on the sixth of 

 January, 1697, to explore an estuary he 

 had found. Their crews saw at 

 first two and then more Black Swans, 

 of which they caught four, taking two 

 of them alive to Batavia." The facts 

 ascertained were communicated to the 

 Royal Society in October, 1698, and 

 were printed in its Philosophical Trans 

 actions. Later, other investigators 

 found that the range of the Black Swans 

 included nearly the whole of Australia 

 and that they were very abundant in 

 many localities. They are said to be 

 much less common now and may become 

 extinct as a wild species. But because 

 of their beauty and their attractive ap 



pearance they probably will be preserved 

 as captives, but granted more or less 

 freedom, in most civilized countries. 

 Someone has said that it is quite pos 

 sible that there are, at the present time, 

 more Black Swans in captivity in other 

 countries than exist in a free state in 

 their native region. 



The Black Swans are not as large 

 as some of the other species but they 

 are much less shy than most of their 

 relatives. When flying at night, they 

 utter a very musical note. "Old Bush 

 man" writes that in Victoria the Black 

 Swans were common "on all the larger 

 'swamps and lagoons, sometimes in good 

 sized flocks, but generally in small com 

 panies, which I took to be old birds and 

 birds of the year. Early in summer 

 they retired to their breeding haunts, and 

 we saw very little of them again till 

 the swamps and water holes filled. They 

 appear to breed in August and Septem 

 ber. The nest is a large heap of rushes, 

 and the female lays five to seven dirty 

 white eggs, not so large as those of 

 the mute swan." The mute swans are 

 natives of Europe and some portions 

 of Asia, and in winter they also enter 

 northern Africa. It is said that in na 

 ture the nests of the Black Swans are 

 often a mass of aquatic plants two or 

 more feet in height and six or more feet 

 in diameter. The period of incubation 

 lasts about five or six weeks. In nature 

 when danger is imminent, these Swans 

 try to save themselves, whenever it is 

 possible by swimming rather than by 

 flying, for they are birds of heavy flight. 



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