AVES- SWAN. 665 
served for their beauty. Many may be seen on the Thames, where they are 
esteemed royal property, and it is accountea felony to steal their eggs. On 
this river, as far as the conservancy of it belongs to the city of London, they 
are under the care of the corporation ; and at certain times the lord mayor, 
aldermen, &c. proceed up the Thames, to what is commonly called the swan 
hopping, to mark the young birds. The swan is a long-lived bird, and 
sometimes attains the age of more than a hundred years. 
THE WiLD..OR “WHISTLING .SWAN,) 
TxHovcH so strongly resembling the tame swan in color and form, is yet a 
lifferent bird; for it is very differently formed within. The wild swan is 
‘ess than the tame, almost a fourth; for as the one weighs twenty pounds, 
the other only weighs sixteen pounds and three quarters. The color of the 
tame swan is all over white; that of the wild bird is along the back and the 
tips of the wings of an ash color; the tame swan is mute, the wild one has a 
sharp loud cry, particularly while flying. But these are slight differences, com- 
pared to whai are found upon dissection. The wild species is found im mest 
of the northern regions, in America, and probably in the East Indies. 
THE BLACK SWAN. 
New Holland, that country of animal wonders, presents us with a bird 
wnich the ancients imagined could not possibly have existence. The black 
8 SS. CN OOOO 
1 Anas cygnus, Lin. 
94 56* 
