168 ZOOLOGICAL (lARDENS. 



male measures upwards of five feet, and more than 

 eight in the expanse of its wings, which reach, when 

 closed, along two-thirds of the tail. Its weight is usu- 

 ally about twenty pounds, but it sometimes attains five 

 and twenty or even thirty ; and those which inhabit 

 the southern coast of the Caspian are said to reach a 

 still more enormous size. The female is rather smaller 

 than the male ; her bill is surmounted by a smaller 

 protuberance ; and her neck is somewhat more slender. 

 When first hatched the young are of a dusky gray, 

 with lead-coloured bill and legs ; in the second year 

 their plumage becomes lighter, and their bill and legs 

 assume a yellowish tinge ; in the third year they put 

 on the adult plumage and colouring of the naked parts. 

 The wild birds of this species, like most of the Water- 

 fowl, are migratory in their habits. In the temperate 

 regions of Europe they begin to absent themselves in 

 October, and return towards the end of March to the 

 quarters which they occupied in the preceding year. 

 But when the winter is not particularly severe, they 

 frequently remain through it, seeking for shelter among 

 the dams and sluices of the rivers, and returning to 

 their former quarters at the breaking of the frost. To 

 protect the tame birds from the severity of the season, 

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

 Ducks and Geese ; but in such strict confinement they 

 entirely lose their spirits, become melancholy and dis- 

 eased, and are constantly making attempts to escape. 

 It is much better, whenever it is possible, both with 

 them and with the commoner species of waterfowl, to 

 leave them at liberty upon a piece of water, which, if 

 their number is at all considerable, they will always 

 keep open by their continual motion, without any risk 

 of freezing their feet. Swans kept in this manner 



