440 THE MUTE SWAN. 



happens the discomfiture is so complete on these occasions, 

 that very few escape with life ; and only he that has been 

 present can form an idea of the noise and clamour which 

 take place during such a hunt. 



"When the frost is of such severity," we are further 

 informed, " that the lakes become altogether frozen over, 

 the swans leave the coast of Pomerania, and direct their 

 flight more to the westward or southward. Some of them, 

 however, would not appear to fly very far ; for so soon as a 

 partial thaw sets in, and the lakes become open in places, 

 those birds reappear, though not in such large numbers 

 as in the spring and autumn. Some people have the in- 

 correct notion that this return of the swans is a certain 

 sign of the near approach of spring. At the utmost, how- 

 ever, their reappearance only portends a longer continuance 

 of mild weather; for it is a matter of common occurrence, 

 that on the renewal of severe frost they are obliged to 

 migrate a second time." 



The Mute Swan (Tarn Svan, or Tame Swan, Sw. ; C. 

 Olor, Steph.) is confined to the most southern parts of 

 Sweden, and as it would seem, almost altogether to the 

 vicinity of Falsterbo Reef, so well known to Baltic navigators, 

 which is situated at the southern extremity of Scania. Very 

 many of the hoopers, as said, remain in the peninsula, or on 

 the coast, even during the most severe winters ; but not so 

 the mute swan, for at the setting in of the frost, or even 

 before, one and all, as it is believed, take their departure for 

 more genial climes. 



Nilsson says the mute swan breeds, though sparingly, in 

 the south of Sweden. This may have happened formerly ; 

 but from the increase of culture, and the density of the 



