chap. xvin. SWANS. 215 



of Stanavialachta. They find there a swan's nest, contain- 

 ing two eggs, and they set a trap for the bird, which they 

 succeed in catching. In the division of spoil, one takes the 

 eggs, the other the swan. One peasant, wearied out by the 

 pertinacity of the cold north-east wind, goes up stream to 

 fish in smoother waters. On his way he stops at Alexievka, 

 where we are, and we buy from him a number of ducks' and 

 gulls' eggs, also two swan's eggs unusually small. As we 

 purchase these we tell him that we shall be glad to pay the 

 price of any swan's skin he can get us. He replies that the 

 skin of the swan whose eggs he has just sold to us is in the 

 possession of his partner, that the bird was trapped at the 

 nest before they were taken out of it, adding that he has left 

 his mate fishing on an island opposite Stauavialachta. On 

 inquiry we find that two of our boatmen know this man, that 

 we have seen hirn ourselves on the island where we found the 

 two shoveller's eggs ; we remember that he made a haul with 

 a seine net of a small basketful of fish resembling herrings, 

 which he presented to one of our men. We now take the 

 first opportunity to go down to Stanavialachta and learn 

 there that this peasant, disgusted as his comrade was by the 

 prevalence of the cold north-east wind, has returned home 

 to Mekitza. We send our most intelligent man to his house 

 and get the skin. 



The relative size of the two birds is very different, as may 

 be appreciated at a glance, without the help of measurements. 

 The bill of Bewick's swan is more than half an inch shorter 

 than that of the larger species; the lengths of the wing, 

 measuring from the carpal joint, are respectively 20^ inches 



