OCT. WILD SWANS. 5 



sights imaginable. There is, too, a wild harmony in 

 their bugle-like cry, as they wheel round and round, 

 now separating into small companies, as each family 

 of five or six seems inclined to alight, and now all 

 joining again in a long undulating line, waiting for 

 the word of command from some old leader, whose 

 long acquaintance with the country and its dangers 

 constitutes him a swan of note among the common 

 herd. At last this leader makes up his mind to 

 alight, and in a few moments the whole flock are 

 gradually sinking down on the calm loch. After a 

 brief moment or two spent in looking round them, 

 with straight and erect necks, they commence sip- 

 ping the water, and turning their flexible necks into 

 a thousand graceful curves and attitudes. They 

 then break off into small companies, each apparently 

 a separate family, and set to work, with seemingly 

 a most excellent appetite, on the water-grasses and 

 plants. I regret to say that the number of wild 

 swans seems to decrease every year. Fewer and 

 fewer visit this country, scared away, probably, by 

 the yearly alteration made in their favourite haunts 

 and feeding-grounds by draining and other im- 

 provements, which substitute oats for rushes, and 

 sheep for wild fowl, an alteration by no means 

 gladdening to the eyes of my old garde-chasse. The 

 diminution in their numbers does not result from 



