MUTE SWAN. 3 



denoting a proud consciousness of superiority. It is 

 rarely that such combats have a fatal termination 

 through injuries received, but occasionally a male bird 

 will be found dead amongst the reeds, which, having 

 lost heart after defeat, has sought a quiet spot to mope 

 and die. Should the champion of the stream, also, as 

 I am credibly informed, chance to lose its mate, his 

 whole nature becomes changed by his misfortune, and, 

 failing even the courage to resent attack, is driven 

 from place to place by every former antagonist, until he 

 withdraws altogether from society, and pines away in 

 solitude. Even the females seem to owe a grudge to 

 the once despotic chief, and resent his advances, whilst 

 a less pugnacious widower more commonly consoles 

 himself with a fresh consort. " The peaceful monarch 

 of the lake," then, as this swan has been termed by 

 poetical license, is so only when separated from others 

 of his own sex. The old swans usually commence 

 their nests in March, but in cold backward seasons 

 are a week or two later, and for a fortnight or three 

 weeks before the eggs are laid, may be seen busily 

 pulling and carrying the stuff. I cannot ascertain, 

 however, that the hen birds, as stated by Mr. Boyes, of 

 Beverley, in a recent letter to Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., 

 ever lay their first eggs on the ground,* except in cases 

 where the nest has been destroyed, or the birds driven 

 from their first site just as the female was ready to 

 lay. The foundation of the nest is, in most cases, com- 

 posed of dried fodder from the "rands," provided for 

 their use, but supplemented by reeds, rushes, and other 



* Mr. Boyes remarks, " The mute swan is an illustration of 

 birds laying before the nest is completed. She frequently lays 

 the first egg on the bare ground. On visiting the place to lay the 

 next egg she collects a few materials and shapes the nest, and on 

 every subsequent visit to lay adds considerably to the nest till it 

 is finished." 



