SWAN. NATATORES. CYGNUS. 279 



THIS handsome and stately bird is known in the Orkneys 

 and Western Islands of Scotland as a regular winter visi- Periodica. 

 tant ; but in England its appearance is not so certain, being 

 governed by the state of the season. Should the winter 

 prove generally mild, such as we have just experienced 

 (1831-2), few, if any, Swans are seen ; as, under such cir- 

 cumstances, they are able to obtain subsistence in higher la- 

 titudes. It is only, therefore, when the winter sets in with 

 unusual rigour in the northern parts, and the lakes and rivers 

 (their source of food) become entirely frozen over, that they 

 extend their equatorial migration to more temperate climates. 

 In such seasons they usually appear with us in small flocks, 

 from five perhaps to thirty together, that take up their abode 

 upon the lakes, rivers, and inundated meadows ; and where, 

 if unmolested, they will remain till March, or the approach 

 of spring, when they again wing their way to the regions of 

 the north. On referring to the seasons in which Swans have 

 appeared in more than usual numbers in this country, they 

 will all be remembered as remarkable for the severity and 

 long continuance of frost. Thus in 17845, and in 17889, 

 these birds were remarkably numerous, and extended their 

 flight to unwonted southern latitudes, having visited Cham- 

 paigne and other parts of France, as well as some of the 

 larger rivers beyond the Alps. In the winters of 1813, 

 1814, 1819, 1823, 1828, and 1829, all more or less severe, 

 they were very commonly met with in different parts of 

 England, and occasionally destroyed in great numbers, as 

 may be gathered from the statement of Mr COOKE, in his 

 description of the Whistling Swan, viz. that in 1823, sixty 

 of these birds were exposed for sale in London in one day *. 

 It is probable that some of these might belong to the recent- 

 ly discovered species, Cygnus Bewickii, which there is now 



* To this scientific account of the present bird I refer my readers. It 

 is entitled " A Letter to M. MJLBAKKE, Esq. descriptive of the Whist- 

 ling Swan, and of the peculiar Structure of its Trachea," and published in 

 1823. 



