WATER FOWL. 



seem to take the alarm ; and they have some- 

 times 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 twelvemonth old that 

 the young swans change their colour with their 

 plumage. All the stages of this bird's approach 

 to maturity are slow, and seem to mark its longe- 

 vity. It is two months hatching ; a year in grow- 

 ing to its proper size ; and if, according to Pliny's 

 observation, that those animals that are longest 

 in the womb are the longest lived, the swan is 

 the longest in the shell of any bird we know, and 

 is said to be remarkable for its longevity. Some 

 say that it lives three hundred years ; and Wil- 

 loughby, who is in general diffident enough, seems 

 to believe the report. A goose, as he justly ob- 

 serves, has been known to live a hundred ; and 

 the swan, from its superior size, and from its 

 harder firmer flesh, may naturally be supposed to 

 live still longer. 



Swans were formerly held in such great esteem 

 in England, that, by an act of Edward the Fourth, 

 none except the son of the king was permitted to 

 keep a swan, unless possessed of five marks a-year. 

 By a subsequent act, the punishment for taking 

 their eggs was imprisonment for a year and a day, 

 and a fine at the king's will. At present they are 

 but little valued for the delicacy of their flesh, 

 but many are still preserved for their beauty. 

 We see multitudes on the Thames and Trent ; 

 but no where greater numbers than on the salt 

 water inlet of the sea near Abbotsbury in Dorset- 

 shire. 



