662 The Zoologist— Apeil, 1867. 



Swan (Cygnus ferus) . 

 Merry Wives of Windsor, Act v. Scene 5. 



"I have seen a swan 

 With bootless labour swim against tbe tide, 

 And spend her strength with overmatching waves." 



Henry VI., Part III., Act i. Scene 4. 



" And wheresoe'r we weni, like Juno's swans, 

 Still we went coupled and inseparable." 



As You Like It, Act i. Scene 3. 



" For all the water in the ocean 

 Can never turn a swan's black legs to while, 

 Altho' she laves them hourly in the flood." 



Titus Andronicus, Act iv. Scene 2. 



" Compare her face with some that I shall show, 

 And I will make thee think thy swan a crow." 



Romeo and Juliet, Act i. Scene 2. 



* * * Her hand 

 To whose soft seizure cygnet's down is harsh." 



Troilus and Crtssida, Act i. Scene 1. 



Mr. Yarrell, in his 'History of British Birds,' remarks that "The 

 young, when hatched, which is generally about the end of May, are 

 conducted to the water by the parent bird, and are even said to be 

 carried there : it is certain that the cygnets are frequently carried on 

 the back of the female when she is sailing about in the water. This 

 I have witnessed on the Thames, and have seen the female, by raising 

 her leg, assist the cygnets in getting upon her back." Mr. Jesse, also, 

 in his ' Gleanings in Natural History,' correctly observes " Where the 

 stream is strong, the old swan will sink herself sufficiently low to bring 

 her back on a level with the water, when the cygnets will get upon it, 

 and in this manner are conveyed to the other side of the river, or into 

 stiller water." 



That this habit had been noticed by Shakespeare we may presume 

 from a passage in ' King Henry VI.,' where we read : 



" So doth the swan her downy cygnets save, 

 Keeping them prisoner underneath her wings." 



Henry VI., Act v. Scene 3. 



