THE BLACK SWAN 33 



generally fly no further than the nearest gum- or ty-tree, 

 where they sit watching the intruder, chattering, piping 

 softly, and occasionally uttering a very similar caw to that 

 of their carrion relative. They are affectionate birds 

 amongst themselves, and are not as mischievous as most 

 crows. They feed on insects of all sorts, and will, occasion- 

 ally at least, consume carrion and filth of all sorts, and also 

 any scraps they find about the homesteads of the colonists, 

 but they never attack living animals of any kind, great or 

 small. 



The nest of the piping-crow is often placed in the 

 solitary gum-trees and ty-trees which are scattered about 

 the plains, sometimes three or four nests in one tree. The 

 eggs, three or four in number, are typical Australian crow's 

 eggs, which differ considerably from those of European 

 crows. Those of the piping-crow are white in ground 

 colour, with a faint bluish, greenish, or reddish tinge, and 

 closely blotched with bright brown and purplish-grey 

 markings. 



In winter-time, when the water-holes are full and there 

 is marshy ground near the rivers, black swans, and the 

 crane, commonly called " the native companion," are 

 numerous. There are also white swans and ducks in great 

 abundance. The black swans may be seen in flocks of 

 sixty or eighty, and natives and old stock-riders say 

 that formerly flocks often numbered several hundreds. 

 They have been much persecuted, many trapped, and 

 others shot, often wantonly, I fear: hence the reduced 

 numbers. 



The plumage of the black swan (Cygnus atratus) would 

 be better described as blackish rather than actually black ; 

 it is never a deep or bright black. The primaries are 

 white and the beak reddish ; the rest of the bird is a dull 

 black colour. The habits of this swan are similar to those 

 of the white species ; but the two birds keep strictly apart, 

 and I have never had so much as a suspicion that they 

 ever breed together. 



In a few points the black swan differs from the white 

 species. It does not fly so high, so fast, or so freely as the 



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