WILD SWANS 83 



the lower reaches of the river that in severe winters 

 they are half starved ; but as they cannot fly, it is 

 impossible for the poor birds to move away in search 

 of food, and they often get pinched and hurt by the 

 moving ice. Apart from the cruelty to the birds of 

 depriving them of their power of flight, the loss to 

 the river scenery can only be realised by those who 

 have lived near a colony of half-wild swans and seen 

 them constantly in flight. The birds fly in ordered 

 ranks, if in any number, and each stroke of the wings 

 makes a clear and musical sound. The stretch of 

 the pinions is often as much as eight and a half feet 

 across, and though its flight is not apparently fast, the 

 progress of the bird is very rapid. This may be seen 

 almost any day on some of the south coast estuaries, 

 and a flight of swans out over the bay is a sight not 

 to be forgotten. Their great size and snowy plumage 

 keep them in sight longer than any other birds could 

 possibly be visible to the eye. Their flight looks like 

 the beginning of a journey into infinity, and Tenny- 

 son's description of a rock-built palace that 



" Lent broad view to distant lands, 

 Far as the wild swan wings, to where the sky 

 Dips down to sea and sands," 



is admirably appropriate. 



Whence the legend of the swan song came is not 

 very certain. It was one of the tales of the ancients ; 

 but, unlike most other fables concerning birds and 

 beasts, was very early questioned. Even Pliny, in his 

 great reservoir of nonsense about animals, doubted it ; 



