BRITISH BIRDS. 271 



species are in the markings of the bill, (which 

 are figured in the subjoined head*) and in the 

 Wild Swan's being of less bulk than the Mute 

 or Tame kind. 



Much has been said, in ancient times, of the 

 singing of the Swan, and many beautiful and 

 poetical descriptions have been given of its dying 

 song. "No fiction of natural history, no fable of 

 antiquity, was ever more celebrated, oftener re- 

 peated, or better received: it occupied the soft and 

 lively imagination of the Greeks : poets, orators, 

 and even philosophers, adopted it as a truth 

 too pleasing to be doubted." "The dull insipid 

 truth," however, is very- different from such ami- 

 able and affecting fables, for the voice of the 

 Swan, singly, is shrill, piercing, and harsh, not 

 unlike the sound of a clarionet when blown by a 

 novice in music. It is, however, asserted by those 

 who have heard the united and varied voices of 

 a numerous assemblage of them, that they pro- 

 duce a more harmonious effect, particularly when 

 softened by the murmur of the waters. 



At the setting in of frosty weather, the Wild 

 Swans are said to associate in large flocks, and, 

 thus united, to use every effort to prevent the 

 water from freezing : this they accomplish by the 

 continual stir kept up amongst them ; and by 

 constantly dashing it with their extended wings, 

 they are enabled to remain as long as it suits 



* On examining the bill, a distinct joint is found in the middle of 

 the protuberance on the upper mandible, by which the bird can open 

 its gape, nearly the same as the under one. Many of the Anas 

 genus have the same, either on the knob or hidden by the brow 

 feathers. 



