74 SWANS 



interference with their duck shooting. The swans are really such a 

 nuisance in this particular locality that a reasonable amount of shooting 

 might well be allowed; these birds are so wary that there is little danger 

 of any great number being killed" (Bent, 1925). 



Regarding the flight of swans, the same writer says: "Considering 

 its size and weight, a swan rises from the water with remarkable ease and 

 celerity; it runs along the surface for 15 or 20 feet, flapping its wings 

 and beating the wa-ter with its feet alternately, until it has gained suffi- 

 cient headway to launch into the air; like all heavy-bodied birds it must 

 face the wind in rising. When well a-wing it flies with considerable 

 speed and power, with the long neck stretched out in front and the great 

 black feet extending beyond the tail; the wing beats are slow, but power- 

 ful and effective. It has been said to fly at a speed of 100 miles an hour; 

 probably no such speed is attained, however, except when flying before a 

 heavy wind; it undoubtedly flies faster .... than any of the ducks and 

 geese. When traveling long distances swans fly in V-shaped wedges, in 

 the same manner as geese and for the same reason; the resistance of the 

 air is less, as each bird flies in the widening wake of its predecessor; the 

 leader, of course, has the hardest work to do, as he 'breaks the trail,' but 

 he is relieved at intervals and drops back into the flock to rest. On 

 shorter flights they fly in long curving lines or in irregular flocks. They 

 usually fly rather high, and when traveling are often way up above the 

 clouds." 



"The ease and grace with which a swan swims on the surface of the 

 water is too well known and too far famed to need any further comment; 

 there is no prettier picture, no grander picture, than a party of these 

 beautiful birds floating undisturbed on the mirror surface of some north- 

 ern mountain lake against the rugged background of one of nature's 

 wildest spots. But few people realize the speed and power of the swan as 

 a swimmer until they have tried to chase one in a boat and seen how 

 easily he escaped, even against wind and waves, without recourse to 

 flight" (Bent, 1925). E. S. Cameron, in notes quoted by Bent, says: 

 "A compact flock of from 4 to 6 swift-flying swans will circle the whole 

 basin of the lake several times, and then, as if tied together, alight in 

 the closest proximity to each other, yet never collide. They will pitch 

 upon the water in the most graceful manner imaginable, without bring- 

 ing their long legs forward, or making any splash. At exceptional times, 

 however, the swans do make a loud splash when they alight." 



The ancients called the Swan, The Bird of Apollo, or of Orpheus, 

 and ascribed to it remarkable musical powers, which it was supposed to 

 exercise particularly when its death approached. Down the ages "The 

 Song of the Dying Swan" or the "Lament of the Swan," has been re- 

 ferred to in literature, and is a phrase familiar to everyone. In the 

 Dialogues of Plato, Socrates, born 469 B. C., referring to the swans, says: 

 " . . . . when they perceive that they must die, having sung all their life 

 long, do then sing more than ever, rejoicing in the thought that they are 



