The Tribe of the Wild Swans 



of sea and sky was to be seen. Eastward, across the waters, 

 the hills held much snow in their corries, and the sinking 

 sun tinged these snows with pink. 



A country of silence, with the spirit of peace brooding 

 over it. 



On this low-lying island the frost is rarely intense. The 

 next day a south-easterly wind brought with it an increase 

 of temperature, and the narrow lane of open water on the 

 swans' loch was rapidly enlarged, so that by night the 

 whole loch was free. With the coming of the thaw, silence, 

 or comparative silence, reigned in the swan world. 



Through the months of December and January the 

 swans frequented the loch. During the opening days of 

 February days when gale after gale from the west swept 

 over the island, and fierce squalls of sleet and rain were 

 driven before the wind they were still there. But shortly 

 after the middle of the month the wind dropped, the sea 

 was again calm, and though the mountains lying to the east 

 still retained their snow caps, the Bewick swans left the 

 island, and at the end of the month the loch and creek 

 were silent and uninhabited. 



Of all the winter migrants to these coasts, I think the 

 wild swans are the first to respond to the earliest breath 

 of spring, but that year they left their winter quarters even 

 sooner than usual. It is believed on the island where they 

 are found throughout the winter that the swans know 

 instinctively when the Baltic is open, and flight north 

 directly this is the case. Whether this is indeed so, or 

 whether the birds make the northward journey in short 

 stages, it would seem strange that they depart a good two 

 months before the white-fronted geese, for the two birds 

 nest not far from each other in the far north, where snow 

 still lies deep on the ground even during the early days 

 of June. It is interesting to note, however, that the swans 

 do occasionally return to the island after apparently having 

 left for the north. Also that in the autumn they fly in from a 



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