THE AMERICAN SWAN. 301 



the wind. What can equal the gracefulness of that long 

 slender, curving neck, as the head moves slowly in every 

 conceivable direction! Every movement of a Swan is par- 

 ticularly slow and stately. It is a living miniature of a ship. 

 But that peculiar motion with which, having dipped his 

 head in the water, he throws a shower of large drops, like 

 so many pearls, over his ruffled and snow-white plumage, 

 affords the supreme moment when his beauty culminates. 

 Such scenes give one a conception of the sweet content God 

 has designed for all His creatures in the mere conscious- 

 ness of existence. Those poets sing best of human life 

 who, passing by its feverish excitements and undue ambi- 

 tions, find a chief good in the quiet, virtuous and sweet 

 sense of simple being. That was a true philosopher who 

 prized the comfort of sunshine above the highest gifts of 

 kings. 



We have two species of Swan on this continent the 

 Whistling or American Swan, and the Trumpeter. The 

 former (Cygnus americanus], some 53 inches long and about 84 

 in extent of wings, is occasionally seen in flocks passing 

 over our Great Lakes, or along the Niagara River, in their 

 times of migration. On St. Clair Flats they are sometimes 

 seen in great numbers. They fly high and in lines and an- 

 gles, after the manner of Wild Geese, except that they are 

 generally silent, and have a shorter and more graceful stroke 

 of the wings. Very inspiring to the love of the beautiful 

 are their large snow-white forms, with outstretched neck and 

 black bill, as they glide along the clear ether of a bright 

 morning in early spring or late autumn, their lines, curves, 

 and angles being formed with mathematical precision. 

 Many of them spend the winter on the Chesapeake and Del- 

 aware rivers, where they are captured in large numbers for the 

 market. It is also said to be abundant along the Pacific 



