i8o Gleanings from the 



fee ftorms and wintry weather, they defcend and 

 reft on the ground. Akin to the cranes is the 

 ftork, and in fpring " the white bird comes which 

 is hated by long fnakes." 1 It is indeed difficult 

 for the dweller by Mincius, " clothed in glaucous 

 reeds," to forget the birds of the river 



"Around, above, 



Birds of the bank or river-bed in plumes 

 Of party-coloured fplendour foothe the fkies 

 With fong, and flit by ftream or woodland lawn." 2 



The wild-goofe had probably proved destructive 

 to the poet's crops, for he terms it " improbus 

 anfer" (which the late Dr. Sewell quaintly tranflates 

 "the caitiff goofe"), and feoffs at its attempts at 

 fmging amongft fwans. The wild fwan, with its 

 graceful form and not unmufical notes, is, on the 

 contrary, a fpecial favourite with Virgil. Here is 

 a ftudy of wild fwans flying home : 



" Like a long team of fnowy fwans on high 

 Which clap their wings and cleave the liquid Iky, 

 While homeward from their watery paftures borne, 

 They fmg and Afia's lakes their notes return. 

 Not one who heard their muftc from afar 

 Would think thefe troops an army trained to war, 

 But flocks of fowl that when the tempefts roar 

 With their hoarfe gabbling feck the filent fhore."* 



Although Dryden was an accomplifhed fifher- 

 man, his rendering of the above lines proves him 

 to have been no ornithologift. He fucceeds 

 better in relating the transformation of Cycnus 

 into a fwan : 



" Love was the fault of his famed anceftry, 

 Whofe forms and fortunes in his enfigns fly. 



1 " Georg.," ii. 320. " "^n.," vii. 32. 



3 Dryden, "^En.," vii. 699. 



