AQUATIC FOWLS. 



231 



web being black, as in the latter, they are of a 

 pale ashy gray. The cygnets are white. Mr. 

 Yarrell, the first discoverer of this species (of 

 which several individuals are living, and have 

 bred in the garden of the Zoological Society), 

 observes, that this species has been known to 

 him for some years past, as an article of com- 

 merce among London dealers in birds, who re- 

 ceive it from the Baltic, and distinguish it by 

 the name of the Polish swan. In several in- 

 stances, these swans had produced young in this 

 country, and the cygnets when hatched were 

 pure white, and did not at any age assume the 

 brown color borne for the first two years by the 

 young of all the other species of swan. 



" During the severe winter of 1837-8, flocks 

 of the swan were seen pursuing a southern 

 course along the line of our northeast coast, 

 from Scotland to the mouth of the Thames, 

 and several specimens were obtained. One 

 flock of thirty, and several smaller flocks, were 

 geen on the Medway. The skull of this species 

 differs in certain points from that of the tame 

 swan, according to Peleren, who has published 

 a paper on the subject in the 'Magazine of 

 Natural History,' April, 1839. Of the two re- 

 maining swans, one is the wild swan, Hooper, 

 or Whistling Swan, a native of the whole north- 

 ern hemisphere, breeding on the borders of the 

 arctic circle, and migrating southward in win- 

 ter. In America, the emigration of this swan 

 is bounded by Hudson's Bay on the north, and 

 extends southward as far as Louisiana and the 

 Carolinas. It extends its winter visits in Eu- 

 rope and Asia as far as the warmer latitudes, 

 and passes into Egypt. The windpipe of this 

 swan is remarkable for a loop which passes 

 into the substance of the keel of the breast- 

 bone." Penny Magazine. 



The last European species is Bewick's swan, 

 which has been confounded with the Hooper, 

 but which, as Mr. Yarrell has demonstrated, is 

 a distinct species. Like the preceding, it is a 

 native of the high northern regions, migrating 

 south in winter. Its windpipe is of smaller 

 calibre than that of the Hooper, and passes 

 far more deeply into the keel of the breast- 

 bone. 



"The tame swan," says Dickson, "is very 



different from the wild swan which are some- 

 imes seen in England, though by no means 

 common." 



" The tame or mute swan," says a writer in 

 he Penny Magazine, "is abundant on the 

 Thames, each pair having their exclusive range 

 or district, at least during the breeding season. 

 The nest, in the formation of which both male 

 and female labor, is made on the banks, among 

 reeds or osiers, on one of the osier islands. It 

 consists of a mass of sticks or twigs, raised suf- 

 ficiently high to prevent its being overflowed by 

 any rise of the water." 



The swan feeds like the goose, and has the 

 same familiarity with its keepers, kindly and 

 eagerly receiving bread which is offered, al- 

 though it is a bird of courage equal to its ap- 

 parent pride, and both the male and female la- 

 bor hard in forming a nest of water plants, long 

 grass, and sticks, generally in some retired spot; 

 and they are then very dangerous to approach, 

 their size and strength enabling them to break 

 a man's limb with a stroke of their wing. The 

 hen begins to lay in February, producing an egg 

 every other day, until she has deposited seven 

 or eight, on which she sits six weeks. Buffou 

 says it is nearly two months before the young 

 are excluded. Swans' eggs are much larger 

 than those of the goose, white, and with a hard 

 and somewhat tuberous shell. The cygnets are 

 ash-colored when they first quit the shell, and 

 for some time after ; indeed, they do not change 

 their color, nor begin to moult their plumage, 

 until twelve weeks old, nor assume their perfect 

 glossy whiteness until advanced in their second 

 year. 



Swans can not be made to thrive without 

 abundance of water to swim in, and clear water 

 is to be preferred to that which is muddy. 



The swan is found in various parts of North 

 America. Here this noble bird is seen floating 

 near the shore in flocks of some two or three 

 hundred, white as the driven snow, and from 

 time to time emitting fine sonorous and occa- 

 sionally melodious notes so loud that they may 

 be heard, on a still evening, two or three miles. 

 There are two kinds, so called from their re- 

 spective notes ; the one the trumpeter, and the 

 other the whooper; the former is the largest. 



