234 



THE AMEKICAN POULTERER'S COMPANION. 



TUB BLACK SWAN. 



Those who have only a good-sized pond say 

 from a quarter to half an acre of water may 

 rear and fat an annual brood. In so small a 

 space, the old birds must, of course, share with 

 their young the extra supply of fatting corn ; 

 but they will get through the winter the better 

 for it, and be more prolific in the spring. Nei- 

 ther they nor their cygnets should at any time 

 be allowed to become poor. 



When cygnets are removed from their parents 

 to be fatted in a regular swan-pond, it is usual 

 to separate them at the end of August or the be- 

 ginning of September. At first, grass is thrown 

 into the water to them twice a day, with their 

 other food; but this is not continued more 

 than two weeks. Four bushels of barley is the 

 established allowance to fat each swan. Their 

 weight, in the feathers, generally varies from 25 

 to 28 pounds, and sometimes, though rarely, 30 

 pounds. They are in season until Christmas, 

 after which they are good for nothing for the 

 table. 



THE BLACK SWAN. 



This bird is a native of, and is found in large 

 flocks in Van Diemen's Land, and on the west- 

 ern coast of New Holland or Australia. It was 

 first found at Swan, or Black Swan River, by a 



Dutch voyager, who, in 1697, sailed forty or 

 fifty miles up the river in his boat. 



The Black Swan is exactly similar in its form 

 to the swan of the Old World, but is somewhat 

 smaller in size. Every part of its plumage is 

 perfectly black, with the exception of the pri- 

 maries and a few of the secondary quill-feath- 

 ers, which are white. The bill is of a light-red 

 color, is crossed at the anterior part by a whitish 

 band ; it is of a grayish color on the under part ; 

 and in the male is surrounded at the base by a 

 slight protuberance. The legs and feet are all 

 of a dark-ash color. Black swans, in their wild 

 state, are extremely shy. They are generally 

 seen swimming on a lake, in flocks consisting 

 of eight or ten individuals. On being disturbed, 

 they fly off in a direct line, one after another, 

 like wild geese. 



When Captain Flanders an excellent sailor, 

 of late years first explored the same coast, he 

 found black swans, in immense flocks, in the 

 openings both of the rivers Tamer and Dcrwent. 

 Of these flocks he says: "From one-fifth to 

 one-tenth of them were unable to fly ; they 

 can not dive, but have a method of plunging 

 so deep in the water as to render their bodies 

 nearly invisible, and thus frequently avoid de- 

 tection. In chase their plan was to gain the 



