192 ANIMALS IN MENAGERIES. 



extend their migrations southward^ and beyond their 

 ordinary hmits. In such seasons they usually come to 

 England, in small flocks, from five to thirty together : 

 they take up their abode upon the lakes, rivers and 

 inundated meadows ; where, if undisturbed, they will 

 remain until the following March, and then return again 

 to the north. It seems, from the accounts already 

 quoted from Hearne, that this species breeds only in 

 very high northern latitudes; but according to Mr. Selby, 

 a few pair, it is said, occasionally remain upon some of 

 the outer Orkney Islands, and there breed on the 

 margins of the freshwater lochs. 



The syren song of the swan before its death, which 

 has been the theme of so much beautiful poetry, is now 

 well known to be fabulous ; for the voice of this, and aU 

 other rasorial types, is only remarkable for its harshness. 

 Mr. Selby observes, — we have not heard it ourselves, — 

 that it consists of two notes; and has, not unaptly, been 

 compared to the discordant union of the modulation of 

 the cuckoo with the scream of the gull, or the sound 

 of the clarionet in the hands of a beginner. Some, 

 however, still assert, that, when on the wing, in large 

 flocks, or resting on the water, their united cries, be- 

 coming softened by distance, are not unpleasant to the ear. 

 '' This," observes Mr. Selby, '^ I can readily believe; for, 

 under such circumstances, I have ever found the incon- 

 gruous mixture of sound from gulls, guillemots, and 

 other tribes of sea fowl (when collected about their 

 breeding places), mixed with the whistling of the breeze, 

 and the murmurs of the intervening water, to reach the 

 ear, not very dissimilar to that of a band of martial 

 music* 



The wild swan evinces as great an aptitude for 

 domestication as the tame species. When caught alive, 

 it soon becomes very tame ; and when provided with a 

 spacious piece of water, naturally furnished with its 

 proper food, it will thrive equally well. It feeds upon 

 the roots, stems, and leaves of aquatic plants; for pro- 



* 111. of Brit. Birds, ii. 281. 



