442 ITS HABITS. 



of their own accord, waddle one hundred paces or more from 

 the pond in which they usually dwelt, and in which a hole 

 in the ice was always kept open, to an outhouse in the 

 stable-yard appropriated to their use; and here, moreover, 

 they would remain as well during the day as the night, until 

 such time as the temperature became milder. 



These birds, their owner informed me, were the best of 

 barometers ; for on the approach of great cold they, without 

 waiting for its actual arrival, would retreat to their shed. 

 And the coming of a thaw, on the contrary, might with equal 

 certainty be calculated upon by their movements ; for before 

 the frost was really gone, they would retrace their steps to 

 the water. 



The mute swan is also much less shy by nature than the 

 hooper. Several instances have come under my personal 

 observation, where wild birds of this species, taken at a ma- 

 ture age, have soon become reconciled to captivity. We read, 

 indeed, that " when adults have been made prisoners, and 

 pinioned, they make no attempt to fly away, although the 

 aperture in the ice occupied by them, and near to which 

 their food is placed, be not much larger than to enable them 

 to turn round." In the more southern parts of Sweden one 

 everywhere meets with the mute swan in a state of domesti- 

 cation, and very few of the domains of the magnates are 

 without these ornaments. 



With us in England the mute swan is a sort of privileged 

 bird witness the preserves in the Thames, the Severn, and 

 elsewhere. In Sweden also, as regards certain districts and 

 they are the only ones where it is found it is also privileged. 

 This is within the Government of Malm 6, where no person 

 but the Governor, of whose revenues the mute swan forms a 



