194 ANIMALS IN MENAGERIES. 



founding all these three species together, have thrown 

 doubt and difficulty on their several and peculiar habits 

 and geographic ranges. 



To expatiate upon the graceful and majestic move- 

 ments of this noble bird, when slowly sailing upon the 

 water, is quite unnecessary : it may literally be said to 

 sail on the glassy element ; for at such times its wings 

 are gently raised, and the feathers sufficiently ruffled to 

 catch the wind, and to perform the office of sails. 

 Why their propagation has of late years been neg- 

 lected, more especially on our public waters, it is 

 difficult to say ; but it must be a subject of great regret 

 to every admirer of what is lovely and beautiful. 

 There is, indeed, a vulgar error, which, in some measure, 

 may account for this ; namely, that the swan, in ad- 

 dition to its animal food of frogs and aquatic insects, 

 likewise feeds upon fish ; and hence it has been banished 

 from many pieces of water where the preservation of 

 the finny inhabitants was considered of more import- 

 ance. But no fancy or assertion can be more un- 

 founded than this, although gravely asserted even by 

 ornithological writers. * It is not only contradicted by 

 the well-known fact of these birds not causing the 

 slightest diminution of fish in ponds where they have 

 been kept for some time ; but one of our best orni- 

 thologists has absolutely declared that he has never 

 found, in the stomachs of any of the numerous indi-- 

 viduals he has dissected, the least vestige of such a 

 diet, t 



Of the habits of swans in a state of nature, nothing 

 of importance appears to be known ; but the author 

 of The Zoological Gardens, has made some remarks 

 upon the domesticated race, which, as being useful to 

 persons possessing these birds, we shall here repeat. — 

 "■ To protect the tame birds from the severity of winter, 

 it is usual to drive them into the same houses as the 

 ducks and geese ; but in such strict confinement they 



* Latham, Gen. Higt. x. 223. 



t Mr. Yarrell ; sec Zool. Gard. ii. 167. 



