THE MUTE SWAN. 391 



water-courses. Unlike the old dragons that could exhale a 

 pestilence and infect a whole district with their breath, these 

 winged tenants of the marsh swallow many a plague and fever 

 up. Not a little miasma has travelled harmlessly down the 

 throats of Swans. They can fatten on poisons, although igno- 

 rant of King Mithridates or his antidote. 



A curious instance of the animal diet of the Swan once 

 occurred to myself. The common brown shrimp, it is well 

 known, inhabits, and thrives in waters less strongly im- 

 pregnated with salt than the open sea, which is not the case 

 with several other species : and I was desirous of trying 

 whether it were possible to stock with them a piece of water 

 absolutely fresh. A quantity were procured and brought 

 home in a fish-kettle of tidal river-water ; but the heat of the 

 weather at the time was much against the success of the ex- 

 periment. On arriving at their journey's end, the great ma- 

 jority were dead. They were all, however, turned out together : 

 a few swam off apparently unaffected by the unwonted element, 

 and were never seen or heard of afterwards ; the rest sank to 

 the bottom ; when one of my Swans, expecting her feed of 

 cord, sailed up, and began feasting on the dead shrimps, crush- 

 ing them in her bill before she swallowed them, and appearing 

 much to relish her meal. 



The difficulty there sometimes is in getting Swans to eat 

 corn, or to graze like Geese, shows that either diet is with them 

 an acquired taste. 



At the proper age and season they will show a disposition to 

 breed, if well fed, although restricted within comparatively 

 narrow limits. As soon as they have decidedly fixed upon the 

 spot for their nest, it will be an assistance to take them two 

 or three barrowfuls of coarse litter. Sedges and rushes are the 

 best, with perhaps a few sticks, which they can arrange at their 

 own pleasure. The number of Eggs laid will vary from five 

 or six to ten, but the number of Cygnets hatched seems, like 



