SWAN 



trust Committed to them ; but if he is attacked, he is 

 bold enough in his defence ; and we have heard it 

 stated, though we will not vouch for the fact, that if 

 he should succeed in killing or beating off the legiti- 

 mate possessor of the ground, even after the incuba- 

 tion is considerably advanced, he takes the place and 

 discharges the duties of watchman and protector, 

 with the same vigilant assiduity as the one which he 

 has vanquished. 



The nest of the mute swan is very similar, both in 

 place and structure, to that of the whistling swan, 

 but the eggs are different ; they are of a white colour, 

 and vary from six to eight in number. The time of 

 incubation is about six weeks, the same as that of the 

 other species. The cygnets are grey, and do not 

 acquire their full plumage till the second year, and 

 till then they usually keep in company with each 

 other, which they also do with the old birds, until 

 the time of pairing again comes on. The cygnets, 

 while they are in their grey plumage, have very little 

 of the majestic appearance of the adult swans. As 

 articles of food, they are, however, the only ones 

 that are held in much estimation at the present time, 

 and there is probably more of the want of rarity than 

 of that of nature in them. Taken from the water, in 

 their natural condition, they are comparatively of 

 little value ; but, when they are artificially fattened, 

 the}' fetch a high price in the market. When tame, 

 swans are kept with a view to profit as well as orna- 

 ment ; their down and the quills of their wings are 

 pulled twice in the year. This is a very cruel opera- 

 tion ; but then, the feathers pulled from the live 

 bird are better than if they were taken from it when 

 dead ; and, if the operation is performed near the 

 time of the moult, and the birds are well fed, it is not 

 so hurtful to them as might at first be supposed. By 

 having this extraordinary supply of feathers to keep 

 up, the working of their system is much more severe 

 than when they have only to supply the natural 

 moult, and therefore they require artificial feeding, 

 in which oats is as good a supply as they can have. 

 Upon small pieces of water, the banks of which are 

 kept trim and free from aquatic herbage, swans 

 require to be fed in the breeding time, and it is of 

 course necessary to give them food in very severe 

 weather, especially when they are frozen out. They 

 are bad walkers ; and thus, when they are shut out 

 from the water, they are but ill able to find their 

 own food upon the land. Indeed, it appears that, if 

 they have not free access to the water, no feeding 

 can keep them in proper condition ; for their plumage 

 gets dirty and ruffled, and they lose all the spirit and 

 the majesty of appearance which they have upon the 

 waters. When in full possession of their proper 

 element, there are few birds so attentive to the state 

 of their plumage as swans. They bathe and play 

 in the water, by casting it all over them, as if it came 

 from a shower-bath ; and then they begin to trim 

 every feather, which they can do on almost every 

 part of the body and wings, in consequence of the 

 length and elasticity of the neck. 



No birds are more, or indeed so much, at home on 

 the surface of the water as swans. Their size, and 

 the closeness, and at the same time the tightness, of 

 their plumage, enable them to ride out during gusts 

 and gales, in which few other birds can keep the 

 surface ; and the pure whiteness of their colour, 

 together with the abundance and fineness of their 

 down, render them very independent of changes of 



temperature. One of their most conspicuous advan- 

 tages, however, is the extent to whigh they can use 

 the wings in sailing along. The hand part of the 

 wing, that is, the portion from the wrist joint, is that 

 which they use upon those occasions, and as the 

 wings are large and concave, and the quills strong, 

 they can go at a rapid rate before the wind without 

 any exertion of the feet. If the progress is to be 

 right before the wind, then the two wings are equally 

 raised, and that, in proportion as speed is required, 

 they are more expanded. The wings of the swan 

 are, indeed, more effective sails than any that we 

 can apply to our craft. The wings of the swan form 

 a sail at each side, between which the current of the 

 wind passes, and thus acts upon them with much 

 more effect than it does upon the sails which we 

 apply to vessels, and which, generally speaking, all 

 draw one way. Equal sails set on the two sides of 

 a ship, and diverging backwards, would be adapted 

 only for going right before the wind, but they would 

 tend much more to the preserving of a steady course 

 than any sails set upon masts in the mesial line of 

 the vessel ; because the current of air passing between 

 them in that line, and of course also in the line of 

 the specific gravity of the vessel, would keep the 

 progress of that centre steadily to the line of the 

 wind. Sailing upon a wind would be a much more 

 difficult matter with this kind of double canvass ; and 

 it is doubtful whether any contrivance of man could 

 give it the variety necessary for gaining the maximum 

 of effect with the minimum of wear and tear in this 

 way ; but it is certain that, with vessels of the pre- 

 sent construction, especially with square-rigged ones, 

 anything but the maximum of effect is produced ; 

 and thus they who have an interest in improving the 

 rigging of ships and, in a country like Britain, it is 

 every body's interest would do well to study inti- 

 mately the mechanism and movements of the wings 

 of the swan as it sails upon the water. It can alter 

 the trim of the wings in a style which is truly admi- 

 rable. By altering the trim of them, in respect to 

 each other, it can not only sail on a cross wind, but 

 absolutely " lie to the wind :" and it can " wear" or 

 turn without losing an inch of wing. It would be 

 vain in us to hope for such perfection in our sailing 

 craft, unless we could find a solution of the impos- 

 sible problem of having an engine of human con- 

 struction so instinct with life as that it could of itself, 

 and without any human direction, obey the circum- 

 stances in which it were placed. This, of course, it 

 would be vain for us to attempt ; but still, the me- 

 chanism by which an animal is enabled to do this is 

 a subject well worthy of our consideration ; and with 

 the principles of the mechanics of dead matter, which 

 are the only ones that we can apply to guide us, we 

 might make far more of the study of animal mechanism 

 than has hitherto been made. As to motion, that is, 

 motion originated and directed in the air, we need 

 make no attempt, because we must always have a 

 fulcrum to start from equal to the resistance of the 

 medium through which the motion is to be made, 

 and the force necessary for overcoming the exertion 

 of that which we impel ; but when that which we 

 move starts from the earth or the water at each 

 application of the native impulse, and moves partly 

 in the air, we cannot take too many lessons from 

 those actions which nature performs under circum- 

 stances nearly the same ; and our lessons here have 

 the advantage of being as pleasant in the acquiring 



