THE SWAN. 201 



The Swan (Cygnus olor) y being identified with Orpheus, 

 and called also the bird of Apollo, the god of music, 

 powers of song have been often attributed to it, and as 

 often denied : 



" I will play the swan, and die in music." 



Othello, Act v. Sc. 2. 



" A swan-like end, fading in music." 



Merchant of Venice, Act iii. Sc. 2. 



Prince Henry, at his father's death-bed, exclaims, 



" Tis strange that death should sing ! 

 I am the cygnet to this pale, faint swan, 

 Who chants a doleful hymn to his own death ; 

 And, from the organ-pipe of frailty, sings 

 His soul and body to their lasting rest." 



King John, Act v. Sc. 7. 

 Again, in Lucrece, we read 



" And now this pale swan in her watery nest, 

 Begins the sad dirge of her certain ending." 



But although the swan has no "song," properly so 

 called, it has a soft and rather plaintive note, monotonous, 

 but not disagreeable. I have often heard it in the spring, 

 when swimming about with its young. 



Colonel Hawker, in his " Instructions to Young Sports- 

 men " (nth ed. p. 269), says: "The only note which I 

 ever heard the wild swan, in winter, utter, is his well- 



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