ORDER PALMIPEDES. 659 



fineness, has been employed for a variety of purposes, too 

 well known to need any thing but a mere allusion. 



The common swan, Cygnus Olor, Mute Swan, Lath., in 

 its wild state, according to M. Teinminck, inhabits the great 

 inland seas or lakes, especially towards the eastern parts of 

 Europe ; but it has become domestic in the great majority of 

 countries. It was, formerly, according to the testimony of 

 M. Dumont, more plentiful in France than it is at present. 

 It is abundant enough in Holland, and in Prussia. It is un- 

 necessary to observe the frequency of these birds in our own 

 country, where they embellish the estate of almost every 

 nobleman and gentleman. Protected on the Thames, as 

 royal property, they form one of the finest ornaments of that 

 noble river. 



The general and voluntary domestication of the swans, is 

 owing, doubtless, to the regard in which they are held, and 

 the general avoidance of all attempts to restrain them in cap- 

 tivity. The few that are shut up in yards, &c., are melan- 

 choly, and make continual efforts to escape from their im- 

 prisonment ; and escape they will, at such times as they hap- 

 pen to hear any wild swans, unless care be taken to clip their 

 wings at every moulting. The strength of the swan is equal 

 to its grace, and among the fiercest of the feathered tribes, 

 it has no enemy but the eagle. Even this king of birds it 

 can frequently repel with reiterated strokes of its vigorous 

 wing, and it often comes off victorious from a combat which 

 it did not provoke, but from which it disdains to fly. It is 

 even said that the stroke of its wing is violent enough to 

 break the leg of a man. 



It may seem singular that these birds, whose usual habits 

 are those of peace, should sometimes employ their courage 

 against their own species. But with the swan, as with most 

 other animals, not forgetting the rational lord of the creation, 

 the fiercest passions originate from the most delightful. The 



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