BIRDS. 413 



tie dangerous to approach the old ones when their little family 

 are feeding round them. Their fears as well as their pride, seeni 

 to take the alarm ; and they have sometimes been known to give 

 a blow with their pinion, that has broke a man's leg or arm. 



It is not till they are a twelvemonth old that the young swans 

 change their colour with their plumage. All the stages of this 

 bird's approach to maturity are slow, and seem to mark its lon- 

 gevity. It is two months hatching ; a year in growing to its 

 proper size : and if, according to Pliny's observation, those 

 animals that are longest in the womb are the longest lived, the 

 swan is the longest in the shell of any bird we know, and is said 

 to be remarkable for its longevity. Some say that it lives three 

 hundred years ; and Willoughby, who is in general diffident 

 enough, seems to believe the report. A goose, as he justly ob- 

 serves, has been known to live a hundred ; and the sw'an, frum 

 its superior size, and from its harder, firmer flesh, may naturally 

 be supposed to live still longer. 



Swans were formerly held in such great esteem, in England, 

 that by an act of Edward the Fourth, none, except the son of 

 the king, was permitted to keep a swan, unless possessed of five 

 marks a year. By a subsequent act, the punishment for taking 

 their eggs was imprisonment for a year and a day, and a fine at 

 the king's will. At present, they are but little valued for the 

 delicacy of their flesh ; but many are still preserved for their 

 beauty. We see multitudes on the Thames and Trent; but no 

 where greater numbers than on the salt water inlet of the sea, 

 near Abbotebury, in Dorsetshire. 



CHAP. XL 



OF THE GOOSE, AND ITS VARIETIES. 



The Goose, in its domestic state, exhibits a variety of col- 

 ours. The wild goose always retains the same maiks ; the 

 whole upper part is ash-coloured ; the breast and belly arc of a 

 dirty white ; the bill is narrow at the base, and at the tip it is 

 i)iack ; the legs are of a saffron colour, and the claws black. 



These marks arc seldom found in the tame j whose bill is eu 



2 M 3 



