92 ANIMAL ARTISANS 



to get dry quickly, it was pleased to be dried with 

 a towel. It liked to swim in the bath, but shrieked 

 if it could not see over the top. This leads up to 

 a very interesting instinct in the young swan. The 

 great danger of its life is being unable to get out of 

 the water when tired. This was the danger which 

 had nearly killed it when we saved it. A deeply 

 seated instinct prompts the little creature to climb up 

 any obstacle. It climbs on to its mother's back, and 

 climbs up the banks of rivers or ponds. To aid it to 

 do this it has quite sharp claws. But it is never happy 

 till it has clambered to the top of anything on which 

 it happens to be. If taken on a lady's lap it would 

 generally try to climb up higher, and would be quite 

 contented when it got on to her shoulder. In the 

 same way it was quite ready to climb on to the 

 back of the setter which was its companion for a 

 time. 



Its last meal was supper, at n P.M., which it always 

 ate by lamplight on a balcony. It was then quite ready 

 to go to sleep in a basket of hay, with the lid shut 

 down, in which it would talk itself to sleep. For one 

 of the most curious points in this little swan's be- 

 haviour was that, unlike the grown-ups, which are 

 known by the scientific name of " mute swan," it was 

 very seldom quiet. It had all sorts and kinds of notes, 

 from a most contented little pipe up to a doleful and 

 complaining shriek, as, for instance, when it first saw a 

 cat. The happier it was the more syllables it used, 

 until when very contented and half asleep it almost 

 twittered like a swallow. It did this when half awake, 



