122 THE WILD SWAN. 



for it that vocal celebrity, with which it has been 

 invested by the ancients. It is somewhat singular, that 

 this music of the swan, which was celebrated by all the 

 ancients who mentioned the bird, with the exception 

 of Lucian, should be still admired in Iceland, where 

 vast flocks of wild swans repair annually to breed. The 

 Icelanders compare the music of the swan to that of 

 the violin, though the swan has but one note, 



Wild swans are, strictly speaking, natives of the cold 

 regions ; and do not migrate so far south even as the 

 warmer shores of England or France, except in very 

 severe winters. In the north of Scotland they are 

 much more common, and some remain for all the year, 

 except when the lakes and waters, in which they find 

 their food, are frozen over. The food of the swan is 

 aquatic plants with their seeds and roots, and insects 

 that float upon the surface of the water, or are found 

 at the bottom where that is shallow. It does not ap- 

 pear that they prey on fish, excepting perhaps the fry 

 when very young ; and to other birds and quadrupeds 

 they are perfectly innocuous, except when themselves 

 or their young are assailed. On these occasions, espe- 

 cially the latter, they are both bold and formidable ; 

 and not only able to beat off other assailants, but to 

 render the approach of man dangerous. The power of 

 whistling in the wild swan is supposed to depend on the 

 singular flexures of the trachea, or wind-pipe. That 

 organ enters a cavity of the breast-bone, from which it 

 is reflected backwards before its termination in the 

 lungs. It is probable that this peculiarity aids in the 

 respiration of the bird, as well as in the production of 

 sound, the length and flexibility of the neck being 



