68 SOUTHERN ESTUARIES 



forsaken, except by a few pairs that nest on the 

 inner side of Chesil Beach ; and the rich and shel- 

 tered mead which fringes Abbotsbury Brook is white 

 with the graceful forms of a thousand nesting swans. 

 In this their ancient haunt, so ancient that although 

 the hills behind are crowned with the ruins of votive 

 chapels and ancient monasteries, the swans may claim for 

 their established home an equal if not greater antiquity, 

 all the favourite sites were, at the time of a visit paid 

 early in April, occupied by the jealous and watchful 

 birds, each keenly resentful of intrusion on its territory, 

 yet in such close proximity to its neighbours that a 

 space of ten or twelve feet at most divided it from 

 ground in " separate and hostile occupation." Near the 

 mouth of a small stream which enters the Fleet below 

 a close and extensive bed of reeds, now cut down and 

 stored for the use of the birds when building, lies the 

 ground most coveted by the swans. There, between 

 two hundred and three hundred nests, or sites for 

 nests, were occupied on a space of two acres at most. 

 So anxious are the birds to secure a place on this 

 favourite spot, that they remain sitting constantly on 

 the place when occupied, in order to maintain their 

 rights against intruders, and there collect with their 

 long necks every morsel of reed and grass within 

 reach to form a platform for the eggs. At this time 

 the swanherd visits them constantly, and scatters bundles 

 of dried reeds from the stacks, which are eagerly 

 gathered in by the swans and piled round and beneath 

 them as they sit. These additions to the nest go 



