226 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



open. Being so large and strong, and requiring so much coarse 

 food, they are a great deal more servicable in this way than are 

 ducks and geese. 



Management. When swans were abundant in England, they 

 were kept mostly upon certain rivers and inlets of the sea where 

 natural food was abundant. The climate of England is so mild 

 that they can there obtain food in such places at all seasons. 

 The colder parts of America do not afford conditions favorable 

 to swan culture. Where the winters are long and severe, and 

 streams and ponds are frozen over for months, wintering swans 

 would be troublesome and expensive, but where the waters are 

 open throughout the year, a farmer who had a suitable place for 

 them might breed swans with profit. A pair of swans would cost 

 about the same as a good cow, and might make about the same 

 net profit. But there would be this difference : the cow would 

 require a great deal of care, the swans very little ; the cow would 

 eat salable food, the swans mostly waste food. By this com- 

 parison it is not meant to suggest that a farmer might profit- 

 ably replace his cows with swans. The object is simply to show 

 how the possible profit from small specialities compares with 

 the usual profit from a regular feature of farming. 



The methods of managing swans are much like the methods 

 of managing wild geese in captivity. The principal difference 

 is that the swans must have a larger body of water, and one in 

 which vegetation is abundant. They are not as fond of land 

 grasses as geese are, and like to float on the surface of the 

 water, feeding on the vegetation at the bottom. Their long 

 necks enable them to do this in water several feet deep. They 

 need no shelter but a small hut, which they will use only in 

 rare emergencies. After they have settled down in a spot, there 

 should be no need of building fences to restrain them. As 

 they are not able to fly, they will remain quite near their home 

 unless food supplies there are very short. In that case extra food 

 should be given them. Even when natural food is abundant, 



