276 BRITISH BIRDS. 



furnished with a projecting, callous, black tubercle, 

 or knob on the base of the upper mandible, and in 

 the colour of the bill, which is red, with black 

 edges and tip : the naked skin between the bill and 

 the eyes is also of the latter colour: in the Wild 

 Swan this bare space is yellow. There is nothing 

 peculiar in the structure of the windpipe, which 

 enters the lungs in a straight line. 



The manners and habits are much the same in 

 both kinds, particularly when they are in a wild 

 state; for indeed this species cannot properly be 

 called domesticated; they are only, as it were, 

 partly reclaimed from a state of nature, and invited 

 by the friendly and protecting hand of man to 

 decorate and embellish the artificial lakes and 

 pools which beautify his pleasure grounds. On 

 these the Swan cannot be accounted a captive, for 

 he enjoys all the sweets of liberty. Placed there, 

 as he is the largest of all the British birds, so is he 

 to the eye the most pleasing and elegant. What 

 in nature can be more beautiful than the grassy 

 margined lake, hung round with the varied foliage 

 of the grove, when contrasted with the pure 

 resplendent whiteness of the majestic Swan, wafted 

 along with erected plumes by the gentle breeze, or 

 floating, reflected on the glossy surface of the water, 

 while he throws himself into numberless graceful 

 attitudes, as if desirous of attracting the admiration 

 of the spectator ! 



The Swan, although possessed of the power to 

 rule, yet molests none of the other water birds, and 

 is singularly social and attentive to those of his 

 own family, which he protects from every insult. 

 While they are employed with the cares of the 



