X 



288 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 



formality, particularly if well clothed with a rich tuft of 

 shrubs and overhanging bushes. 



Except in these two instances, islands should be generally 

 placed opposite the salient points of the banks, or near those 

 places where small breaks or promontories run out into the 

 water. In such situations, they will increase the irregularity 

 of the outline, and lend it additional spirit and animation. 

 Should they, on the other hand, be seated in or near the 

 marginal curve and indentations, they will only serve to clog 

 up these recesses ; and while their own figures are lost in 

 these little bays where they are hidden, by lessening the 

 already existing irregularities, they will render the whole 

 outline tame and spiritless. 



On one or two of these small islands, little rustic habita- 

 tions, if it coincide with the taste of the proprietor, may be 

 made for different aquatic birds or water fowl, which will 

 much enliven the scene by their fine plumage. Among 

 these the swan is pre-eminent for its beauty and graceful- 

 ness. Abroad, they are the almost constant accompaniments 

 of water in the ground of country residences ; and it cannot 

 be denied that, floating about in the limpid wave with their 

 snow-white plumage and superbly curved necks, they are ex- 

 tremely elegant objects. 



After having arranged the banks, reared up the islands, 

 and completely formed the bed of the proposed lake, the im- 

 prover will next proceed, at the proper period, to finish his 

 labours by clothing the newly formed ground, in various 

 parts, with vegetation. This may be done immediately, if it 

 be desirable ; or if the season be not favourable, it may be de- 

 ferred until the banks, and all the newly formed earth, have 

 had time to settle and assume their final forms, after the dam 



