252 Wonders of the Bird World 



themselves, notably the Swans and Pigeons. The latter 

 may have derived their fighting power with the wings from 

 their ancient progenitors ; such as the Solitaire mentioned 

 above (p. 44). A blow from a Pigeon's wing is a pretty sharp 

 one, and every one knows that the stroke of a Swan's wing 

 is a matter not to be joked about. And yet so little do 

 some of our great artists know about natural history that 

 even Landseer was guilty of that dreadful impossibility of 

 " Eagles attacking a Swanery," a picture beautifully 

 painted, as goes without saying, but representing a fact 

 which could not occur in nature. As was pointed out at the 

 time of the exhibition of the picture, by that veteran ornith- 

 ologist, Mr. W. B. Tegetmeier, so many Eagles would not be 

 seen together — they would not attack with their bills, but 

 with their talons ; and lastly, they would think twice before 

 touching a Swan, as a blow from the wing of the latter 

 would probably disable a more powerful and courageous 

 bird than either the Golden or White-tailed Eagle, which 

 are the two species found in Britain. The Harpy Eagle of 

 America {Thrasaetus harpy id) might manage to kill a Swan, 

 as he is said to be able to seize a cat fore and aft and pull 

 it asunder, and a French naturalist told me that he once 

 saw a Harpy in Mexico strike down a " Veal " (!), but no 

 Eagle would try conclusions with a Swan, unless he were 

 able to pounce on the latter when in full flight, and then 

 the talons and not the bill, would do the work. 



Although there are many birds which make playing- 

 grounds and dancing-places in the breeding-season, the 

 latter are too often utilized as arenas for fighting. There 

 are, however, many birds which seem to love dancing for 

 dancing's sake. The Cranes are great exponents of the 

 art, as can be seen any day in the Zoological Gardens, and 

 even the solemn Storks will occasionally indulge in a 

 minuet. The following amusing account has been 

 published by Mr. E. W. Nelson in his report on the Birds 



