G8 NATURAL HISTOEY SKETCHES. 



after the young birds can fly, on all the large swamps 

 and lagoons ; sometimes in good-sized flocks, but generally 

 in small companies, which I took to be the old birds and 

 birds of the year. Early in summer they retire to their 

 breeding-haunts, and we saw very little of them again 

 until the swamps and water-holes filled. They appear 

 to breed in August and September. 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 swan at home. 

 They breed a good deal on some of the large islands 

 in "Western-port Bay, and I attribute the decrease of 

 swans in this neighbourhood to the quantity of eggs 

 that are yearly taken by the fishermen in this bay. 

 Swan-ponds near the Heads, is also a great place for them ; 

 in fact, they are by no means rare in this district, and an 

 odd pair or so breed on most of the large swamps. The 

 black swan is not nearly so shy as the European hooper, 

 and they are by no means difficult to come up to with a 

 punt-gun. They are a heavy-flying bird, and don't care 

 to rise on the wing, if they can save themselves by 

 swimming. 



The black swan is a graceful, elegant bird, not so large 

 as the hooper at home; the shape of the beak is the same, 

 but the cere is red, and the windpipe is not folded within 

 the breastbone. The colour is deep black, the pinion- 

 feathers white, which contrast prettily with the black 

 plumage of the body when the bird is in the air ; the 

 bastard wing-feathers are prettily curled. They have 

 a very musical call-note when passing overhead on a 



