BIRDS. 4fl0 



rithing motions ; but the roundest contours, and the easiest 

 transitions; the eye wanders over every part with insatiable 

 pleasure, and every part takes a new grace with a new motion. 

 This fine bird has long been rendered domestic ; and it is 



miles an hour, but wlien flying across the wind or against it, they make but 

 a slow progress, and are then a noble shot." They are much sought after 

 in those countries where they are abundant, for their flesh, their quill-fea- 

 thers, and their down. The former according to the author just quoted, 

 " is excellent eating, and, when roasted, is equal in flavour to young heifer 

 beef, and the cygnets are very delicate." It is possible that in this instance 

 the keen appetite of the sportsman may have imparted a relish to his game 

 which it did not intrinsically possess. In Europe it is little sought after, 

 and although cygnets are occasionally served upon the tables of the great, 

 the rarity of the dish may be supposed to add not a little to its actual flavour, 

 which to tlie taste of beef joins somewhat of that which is coramou to ducks 

 and most of our waterfowl. 



The Wild Swans arrive in Hudson's Bay as early as March, preceding all 

 the other species of waterfowl. While the rivers remain frozen, they fre- 

 quent tlie falls and rapids, where they are often shot by the Indiana in large 

 numbers. They are also pursued by the natives in the moulting time, 

 which takes place in July and August ; but it is extremely diflicult to catch 

 them, as they ran with great swiftness on the surface of the water. In Ice- 

 land and Kamtschatka they are hunted at this time with dogs and horses, 

 and frequently distance the latter, but are eventually palled down by the 

 dogs, which seize them by the neck and overbalance them. The female 

 usually builds her nest on an island in the centre of a lake, and lays from 

 five to seven eggs, " bo big," says Hearne, " that one of them is sufficient 

 for a moderate man, without bread or any otl>er addition." They are of a 

 dirty white with a shade of olive green. As in the Tame species, the bat- 

 tles between the males are frequent and obstinately contested, sometimes 

 lasting for a whole day, and not uncommonly terminating in the death of 

 one or other of the combatants. 



The BUick Swan. — When the classical writers of antiquity spoke of the 

 Black Swan as a proverbial rarity, so improbable as almost to be deemed 

 impossible, little did they imagine that in these latter days a region would 

 be discovered, nearly equal in extent to the Roman empire even at the 

 proudest period of its greatness, in which their "rara avis" would be 

 found in aa great abundance as the common Wild Swan upon the lakes of 

 Kurope. Such, however, has been one of the least singular among the many 

 strange and unexpected results of the discovery of the great southern conti. 

 nent of New Holland. Scarcely a traveller who has visited its shores omit« 

 to mention this remarkable bird. An early notice of its transmis.sion to Eu. 

 rope occurs in a letter from Witsen to Dr Martin Lister, printed in the 

 twentieth voliune of the Philosophical Transactions ; and V'alentyu pub- 

 lished in I7il6 !u\ account of two living specimens brought to Batavia. 



Since this period many living individuals have been brought to England, 



where they thrive equally well with the Emeus, the Kangaroos, and (ithisr 



Australian animals, insomuch th.it they can now scarcely be regarded as 



rarities even in this country. They an- prei-iscly similar in form, and :>uuie. 



111. 2 M 



