Book VII. 



SWAN AND BUSTARD. 



1047 



and feathers, and of the best quality. This seems a cruel practice, and surely were 

 better left off. 



6752. The sivan, {Anas olor, L., Jig. 725.) is a native of England, but not com- 

 mon ; it is chiefly found on the Thames and y 

 the Trent. In former times the swan formed 

 a dish of embellishment at great feasts ; but 

 now the cygnets, or young only are eaten, 

 and that after a peculiar preparation. For- 

 merly they were fattened at Norwich for the 

 city feast, and commanded a guinea each. 

 The foot of the swan possesses nearly the 

 same property as that of the goose ; and the 

 skin was formerly held to contain medical 

 properties. At present swans are chiefly to 

 be considered as ornamental in pleasure grounds, clearing water from weeds, and oc- 

 casionally affording cygnet and some swan down feathers and quills. It is a curious 

 circumstance that the ancients considered the swan as a high delicacy, and abstained 

 from the flesh of the goose as impure and indigestible. 



6753. Varieties or species. The common swan differs in color; the black is rare, as 

 every schoolboy knows. The swan goose, Muscovy goose [A. hr/brida, L.), is a native 

 of Guinea, and is a sort of middle species between the swan and the goose, and unites so 

 well with the latter as to cause little or no perceptible difference in the progeny. They 

 are sufficiently common in England, and distinguished by their erect gait, and the scream- 

 ing which they continue during almost the whole day, without any obvious incitement. 



6754. Rearing. The swan feeds like the goose, and has the same familiarity with 

 its keepers, kindly and eagerly receiving bread which is offered, although it is a bird of 

 courage equal to its apparent pride, and both the cock and hen are extremely dangerous 

 to approach during incubation, or whilst their brood is young, as they have sufficient 

 muscular force to break a man's arm with a stroke of their wing. They both labor 

 hard in forming a nest of water plants, long grass, and sticks, generally in some 

 retired part or inlet of the bank of the stream, or piece of water on which they are 

 kept. The hen begins to lay in February, producing an egg every other day, until she has 

 deposited seven or eight, on which she sits six weeks, although Buffon says it is nearly 

 two months before the young are excluded. Swans' eggs are much larger than those 

 of a goose, white, and with a hard, and sometimes tuberous shell. The cygnets are ash- 

 colored when they first quit the shell, and for some months after ; indeed, they do not 

 change their color, nor begin to moult their plumage, until twelve months old, nor 

 assume their perfect glossy whiteness, until advanced in their second year. 



6755. Feathers and down. Where the living swan is plucked, only the ripe down 

 should be taken from each wing, and four or five feathers. This may be repeated to 

 the extent of three times in the course of a summer. 



6756. The bustard, {Otis tarda, L., jip;. 726.), is a 

 native of England, the largest indigenous land bird 

 in Europe ; the cock generally weighing from twenty- 

 five to twenty-seven pounds. The neck a foot long, 

 the legs a foot and a half. It flies with some little 

 difficulty. The head and neck of the cock ash co- 

 lored ; the back barred transversely with black and 

 bright rust color. The greater quill feathers black, 

 the belly white ; the tail, consisting of twenty 

 feathers, marked with broad black bars : it has three 

 thick toes before and none behind. There are up- 

 wards of half a dozen species of this bird, two or 

 three of which (African) are crested. The little bustard 

 (0. tetrax), differs chiefly in size, not being larger than 

 a pheasant. Bustards were known to the ancients 

 in Africa, and in Greece and Syria ; are supposed to 

 live about fifteen years ; are gregarious, and pair in spring, laying only two eggs, nearly 

 of the size of a goose-egg, of a pale olive brown, marked with spots of a darker hue. 

 They sit about five weeks, and the young ones run, like partridges, as soon as delivered 

 from the shell. The cocks will fight until one is killed or falls. Their flesh has 

 ever been held most delicious ; they are fed upon the same food as the turkey. There 

 were formerly great flocks of bustards in this country, upon the wastes and in the 

 wolds, particularly in Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, and Dorset, and in various parts of 

 Scotland, where they were hunted with greyhounds, and were easily taken. Buffon was 

 mistaken in his supposition that these birds are incapable of being propagated in the do- 



3X4 



