300 THE SWAN. 



ready to reward falsehood as truth. Poor Aldrovandus ! 

 after having spent a vast fortune, for the purposes of en- 

 lightening 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 favor of 

 the singing of Swans, are rather suspicious, since they are 

 reduced to this Mr. G. Braun, and John Rostorph, the na- 

 tive of a country remarkable 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 scarcely deserve our regard. The Swan, therefore, 

 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 forms. Its chief food is corn, bread, herbs 

 growing in ihe 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 assiduity. 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 be- 

 fore its young are excluded ; which are ash-colored 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 twelve-month old that the young 





