THE GOOSE KIND. 275 



" ton has it) with arched neck between its wings mant- 

 " ling, there is not a more beautiful figure in all Nature." 



The wild swan is about one-fourth less than the tame ; 

 the one weighing about twenty, and the other seldom 

 more than sixteen pounds. The feathers of the tame 

 swan are delicately white ; but, in the wild one, the 

 back and the tip of the wings are a pale ash : the in- 

 ternal conformation of these birds differs infinitely more 

 than the external ; and to the singular construction of 

 the wild swan's wind-pipe, may be ascribed the loud 

 and harsh tones of its voice, although the most cele- 

 brated authors of antiquity fabulously asserted there 

 was harmony in the sound. 



This beautiful bird is as delicate in its appetites as it 

 is elegant in its shape: it feeds upon corn, bread, and 

 seeds, and such herbs and roots as grow near the edges 

 of the stream : it prepares a nest in some retired 

 part of the bank, and generally where there is an 

 islet near, which is composed of water-plants, long 

 grass, and sticks : the male assists the female in her 

 employment, and assiduously attends her during the 

 time she sits. The egg of the swan is perfectly white, 

 and much larger than that of the goose : the time of 

 sitting is about two 'months; and the cygnets are of an 

 ash-colour when they first leave their shell. The swan 

 is allowed to be a most attached parent, and will 

 fiercely attack any one who ventures too near her 

 brood ; and so great is the force with which they can 

 strike their pinion, that a leg or an arm might be 

 broken with the blow. The feathers of the young swan 

 remain ash during the first twelvemonth, and then gra- 

 dually become delicately white ; and it was formerly 

 held in such esteem in England, that Edward the Fourth 

 made it imprisonment to touch their eggs : and no one 



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