WATER-FOWL. 21". 



thing was more common in England, than to hear swans sing ; that 

 they were bred in great numbers in the sea near London ; and that 

 every fleet of ships that returned from their voyages from distant coun 

 tries, were met by swans, that came joyfully out to welcome their re 

 turn, ar\d salute them with a loud and cheerful singing ! It was in 

 this manner that Aldrovandus, that great and good man, was fre- 

 quently imposed upon by the designing and the needy : his unbounded 

 curiosity drew round him people of every kind, and his generosity was 

 as ready to reward falsehood as truth. Poor Aldrovandus ! after hav- 

 ing spent a vast fortune, for the purposes of enlightening mankind ; 

 after having collected more truth, and more falsehood, than any man 

 ever did before him, he little thought of being reduced at last to want 

 bread, to feel the ingratitude of his country, and to'die a beggar in a 

 public hospital ! 



Thus it appears that our modern authorities, in favour of the sing- 

 ing of swans, are rather suspicious, since they are reduced to this 

 Mr. George Braun, and John Rostorph, the native of a country re- 

 markable for ignorance and credulity. It is probable the ancients 

 had some mythological meaning in ascribing melody to the swan ; and 

 as for the moderns, they scarce deserve our regard. The swan, there- 

 fore, must be content with that share of fame which it possesses on 

 the score of its beauty ; since the melody of its voice, without better 

 testimony, will scarcely be admitted by even the credulous. 



This beautiful bird is as delicate in its appetites, as elegant in its 

 form. Its chief food is corn, bread, herbs growing in the water, and 

 roots and seeds, which are found near the margin. It prepares a nest 

 in some retired part of the bank, and chiefly where there is an islet 

 in the stream. This is composed of water-plants, long grass and 

 sticks ; and the male and female assist in forming it with great assi- 

 duity. The swan lays seven or eight eggs, white, much larger than 

 those of a goose, with a hard, and sometimes a tuberous shell. It sits 

 near two months before its young are excluded ; which are ash-co- 

 loured when they first leave the shell, and for some months after. It 

 is not a little dangerous to approach the old ones, when their little 

 family are feeding round them. Their fears, as well as their pride, 

 seem to take the alarm ; and they have sometimes been known to 

 give a blow with their pinion, that has broke a man's leg or arm. 



It is not till they are a twelvemonth old that the young swans change 

 their colour with their plumage. All the stages of this bird's approach 

 to maturity are slow, and seem to mark its longevity. It is two 

 months hatching ; a year in growing to its proper size : and if, ac- 

 cording to Pliny's observation, that those animals that are longest in 

 the womb are the longest lived, the swan is the longest in the shell of 

 any bird we know, and is said to be remarkable for its longevity. 

 Some say that it lives three hundred years ; and Willoughby, who is 

 in general diffident enough, seems to believe the report. A goose, as 

 he justly observes, has been known to live a hundred ; and the swan, 

 from its superior size, and from its harder, firmer flesh, may naturally 

 oe supposed to live still longer. 



Swans were formerly held in such great esteem in England, that 

 by an act of Edward the Fourth, none, except the son of a king, was 

 permitted to Keep a swan, unless possessed of five marks a year B* 



