THE swAV FAMILY.] BY FIELD, WOOD, AND WATER. [the swan family. 



bills. This, however, is only when they are 

 (Ivin-; before the wiiul ia a brisk f^alo, at 

 which time they seUloin Ily nt a loss rato than 

 a huiuired miles an hour: but when flyinj:; 

 nci-Kss the wind, or against it, they aro not 

 able to make any great progress." 



The swan is live feet long, above seven broad, 

 and weii^lis from thirteen to sixteen pounds. 

 The bill lias a length of threo inches, and is of 

 a yellowish hue from the base to tho middle, 

 ami thence to tho tip, black. The bare space 

 from the bill over tho eyo and eyelids is 

 yellow; and the entire plumage, in adult birds, 

 is of a pure white. They are clothed, next to 

 tho skin, with a thick fine down. Tho legs 

 are black. 



This species usually congregate together — 

 keening in groups or families, except at the 

 pairing season, and when the severe frosts set 

 in. In winter they assemble in prodigious 

 numbers, near great rivers and lakes, situated 

 in thinly inhabited countries in the northern 

 parts of Europe, Asia, and America. AVhen 

 the weather becomes very severe, they take 

 their flight very high in the air, and divide 

 their number in quest of a more genial tem- 

 perature. In such hard winters they are some- 

 times met with in various sections of Great 

 Britain, and in other more southern countries 

 of Europe. The rule as to their migrations 

 has been observed in America. They do not, 

 however, remain longer than towards the ap- 

 proach of spring, when they retire northward 

 to the arctic regions, to breed. In these move- 

 ments to and fro, a few straggling birds stop 

 short, and perform the offices of incubation by 

 the way ; for it has been ascertained that they 

 breed in the Hebrides, the Orkney, Slietland, 

 and other solitary isles. The great body of 

 them, however, go far north, and arc to be 

 met with in the large rivers and lakes near 

 Hudson's Bay, and those of Kamtschatka, 

 Lapland, and Iceland. They arc said to return 

 to the latter place, in flocks of about a hundred 

 at a time, in the spring, and also to pour in 

 upon that island from the north, in nearly the 

 same manner, on their way southward in the 

 autumn. 



Martin says, that in the month of October, 

 swans arrive in great numbers at Lingey, one 

 of the AVesteru Isles, and continue tiiere till 

 March, when they return northward to breed. 



A few continue in ^Mainland, one of the Ork- 

 neys, anil breed in tho little ishmda of the 

 fresh-water lochs; but tho principal part of 

 them retire on tho ap[)roach of spring. They 

 aro called tho Countryman's Almanack; for 

 their quitting tho isle is said to presage good 

 weather; and their arrival, tho reverse. 



In Iceland, these birds are an object of 

 chase. In the month of August, they lose 

 their feathers to such a degree as not to be 

 able to fly. Tho natives, at that season, resort, 

 in great numbers, to the places whero they 

 most abound ; and arc accompanied with dogs, 

 and active and strong horses, trained to tho 

 sport, and capable of passing nimbly over tho 

 boggy soil and marches. The swans will run 

 as fast ao a tolerably fleet horse. The greater 

 number aro taken by the dogs, which are taught 

 to seize them by the neck — a mode of attack 

 that causes tho birds to lose the'r balance, 

 and become an easy prey. 



This species has several distinctions from that 

 called by us the Tame Swan: but the most 

 remarkable one is tho strange form of tho 

 windpipe, which falls into the chest, then turns 

 back like a trumpet, and afterwards makes a 

 second bend to join the lungs. By this curious 

 construction, the bird is enabled to utter a 

 loud and shrill note. The other swan, on tho 

 contrary, is the most silent of all the feathered 

 tribes. It can do nothing more than hiss, 

 which it does on receiving any provocation. 

 The vocal swan emits its loud notes only 

 when flying, or calling: its sound is, tvhoogh, 

 lolioogli, very loud and slirill, but not dis- 

 agreeable when heard high in the air, and 

 modulated by the winds. The Icelanders 

 compare it to the notes of the violin. As they 

 hear it at the end of their long and gloomy 

 winter, when the return of the swans announces 

 also the return of summer, every note must 

 be melodious which presages a speedy thaw, 

 and a release from their tedious confinement. 



It was from this species alone that tlio 

 ancients derived their fable of the swan's 

 being endowed with the powers of melody. 

 Embracing the Pythagorean doctrine, they 

 made the body of this bird the mansion of tho 

 souls of departed poets ; and then attributed 

 to the birds the same faculty of harmony which 

 they had thus possessed in a pre-existent 

 state. The common people, not distinguishing 



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