THE MUTE SWAN. 



jfce, but who would willingly pay for the maintenance of a 

 pair of Swans and their annual brood of Cygnets, on enclosed 

 or artificial waters, if they knew but how to order them 

 aright. 



Imprimis, then, they are called " Tame Swans," " Domestic 

 Swans :' ; never were epithets more inappropriate, unless we 

 agree to say, "tame Hyaena, tame Wolf, tame Rat, domestic 

 Pheasant, domestic Swallow/' They will come to their 

 keeper's call, and take food from his hand ; they will keep at 

 home, when they are completely prevented from ranging out 

 of bounds abroad : so far they are tamed and domesticated, 

 but no further, and never will be. To compare the relations 

 which exist between them and man, with those by which we 

 retain the Goose and the common Fowl, is about as correct as 

 to believe that the same temper and disposition influence the 

 faithful Dog and the wildest Jackal of the wilderness. I put 

 the case thus strongly, in order that it may be understood 

 clearly. The comparisons may be a little exaggerated, but 

 they will serve to raise the real truth into bolder and higher 

 relief. Many systematic naturalists, of deserved reputation, 

 have not been aware of the fact. Professor Low, speaking of 

 the effects of domestication on birds, says " The Swan, the 

 noblest of all water Fowls, becomes chained, as it were, to our 

 lakes and ponds, by the mere change of his natural form." 

 Domesticated Animals of the British Islands. Introduction, 

 p. liv. Chained, indeed ! I should like the learned Professor 

 to see a pair of unmutilated Swans cleaving the air with ex- 

 tended pinions. He evidently takes the Swan to be a do- 

 mesticated bird, and that it will not fly away, instead of that 

 it cannot. Listen to this : "I have never kept Swans myself; 

 but those of some relatives a few miles off, sometimes pay us 

 a visit, performing their flight in an incredibly short time." 

 H. H. Waterton, who speaks only so far as he has seen, in 

 his vivid essays gives a similar account of the proceedings of a 



