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" My male blach Swan, Oygnus atratus, died yesterday (June 29, 

 1835). He had been long going off, apparently through old age, 

 though not more than fifteen ; yet he has left four young ones, not 

 three months old. His widow is still healthy, and does not appear to 

 grieve much ; nor did she pay any attention to him in his last days, 

 probably because engaged with her young. They have hatched in 

 all forty-four, and reared forty young ones. They were chiefly 

 hatched in January, and always in an earthern wigwam built for them 

 in a smaU island. Once there were two broods in a year, the next 

 year only none." 



