HOOPING SWAN BEWICK 9 S SWAN. 195 



neighbourhood, on account of a tradition that the souls of 

 virgins (?) who, whilst living, had been remarkable for the 

 purity of their lives, were after death enshrined in the form 

 of these birds, as emblematic of their purity and beatitude ; 

 for this reason they remain in safety, as it is also believed 

 that whoever would be so unlucky as to meddle with them 

 would pay for his temerity by the forfeit of his life, ere the 

 year had elapsed. 



Invested with many notices of interest from the earliest 

 ages of antiquity, the fabled melody of the dying swan is ap- 

 plied indifferently to this or our better known species, the 

 mute swan. Whence it originated we have no opportunity 

 of ascertaining, although we find the observation current 

 amongst the earliest of the Greek writers. ^Eschylus, in a 

 passage descriptive of a female character, remarks : 



" She, like the swan 

 Expiring, dies in melody. " 



In Ossian our notice is attracted by a similar passage : 

 " Sweet was her song, as the voice of the wounded swan, when 

 she sings away her soul in death, and feels in her breast the 

 fatal dart of the hunter." 



It need be scarcely remarked that modern research has suf- 

 ficiently disproved the fable. 



Habitat Northern Europe. 



SPECIES 187 BEWICK'S SWAN. 



Cygnus Bewickii. Yarr. 



Cygne de Bewick. Temm. 



Wild Swan. 



THIS species, smaller in size, and characterized by the same 

 spotless plumage as the preceding, is the more common of the 

 two species occurring in Ireland ; few winters passing with- 

 out their being observed in the markets of the city, or noticed 

 in the columns of the provincial papers of the day. 



Overlooked in its specific distinctions till within the last 

 few years, this species was for a considerable time confounded 

 with the hooper. 



Similar in habits to that bird, during winter the inland 

 lake or estuary on tfce sea-shore is indifferently chosen, 

 where they present a like appearance when on the water, by 

 the long neck being in most cases held stiffly upward, without 

 any of that graceful bend which renders our domestic swan so 

 o2 



