4-08 HISTORY OF 



CHAPTER X. 



OF THE SWAN, TAME AND WILD. 



No bird makes a more indifferent figure upon 

 land, or a more beautiful one in the water, than 

 the Swan. When it ascends from its favourite 

 element, its motions are awkward, and its neck 

 is stretched forward with an air of stupidity ; but 

 when it is seen smoothly sailing along the water, 

 commanding a thousand graceful attitudes, mov- 

 ing at pleasure without the smallest effort, when 

 it " proudly rows its state," as Milton has it, 

 " with arched neck, between its white wings 

 mantling," there is not a more beautiful figure in 

 all nature. In the exhibition of its form, there 

 are no broken or harsh lines, no constrained or 

 catching motions, but the roundest contours, 

 and the easiest transitions ; the eye wanders over 

 every part with insatiable pleasure, and every 

 part takes a new grace with new motion. 



This fine bird has long been rendered domes- 

 tic ; and it is now a doubt whether there be any 

 of the tame kind in a state of nature. The wild 

 swan, though so strongly resembling this in colour 

 and form, is yet a different bird ; for it is very 

 differently formed within. The wild swan is less 

 than the tame by almost a fourth ; for as the one 

 weighs twenty pounds, the other only weighs six- 

 teen pounds and three quarters. The colour of 

 the tame swan is all over white ; that of the wild 



