THE TAME SWAN. 



167 



means of their long- necks, for they rarely if ever plunge 

 the whole of their bodies beneath the surface. They 

 also devour frogs and insects, and occasionally, it is 

 said, even fishes ; but this last assertion is contradicted 

 by almost every observer who has attended particularly 

 to their habits, and seems quite at variance with the 

 fact that the fish-ponds to which they are sometimes 

 confined do not appear to suffer the smallest diminution 

 in the number of their inhabitants from the presence of 

 these inoffensive birds. We are moreover infomied by 

 Mr. Yarrell that he has never found in the stomachs of 

 any of the numerous individuals dissected by him the 

 least vestige of such a diet. In their habits they are as 

 peaceable as they are majestic in form, elegant in atti- 

 tude, graceful in their motions, and, in the two species 

 that are most commonly known to us, unsullied in the 

 purity of their white and glossy plumage. 



Of these species that which is known, improperly 

 with reference to a large proportion of the individuals 

 that compose it, as the Tame Swan, is probably the 

 most common, being found in a state of domestication 

 throughout the greater part of the northern hemisphere. 

 In a wild state it is met with in almost every country 

 of Europe, especially towards the east, and is particu- 

 larly abundant in Siberia. Its distinguishing characters 

 are found chiefly in its bill, which is throughout of an 

 orange red, with the exception of the edges of the man- 

 dibles, the slight hook at the extremity, the nostrils, 

 and the naked spaces extending from the base towards 

 the eyes, all of which are black. A large protuberance, 

 also of a deep black, surmounts the base of the bill ; 

 the iris is brown ; and the legs black, with a tinge of 

 red. All the plumage, without exception, in the adult 

 bird, is of the purest white. In length the full grown 



