540 TRUMPETER SWAN. 
gliding over and beneath the surface of the liquid element with sur- 
prising agility and grace. Imagine, Reader, that a flock of fifty Swans 
are thus sporting before you, as they have more than once been in my 
sight, and you will feel, as I have felt, more happy and void of care 
than I can describe. 
When swimming unmolested the Swan shews the body buoyed up ; 
but when apprehensive of danger, it sinks considerably lower. If rest- 
ing and basking in the sunshine, it draws one foot expanded curiously 
towards the back, and in that posture remains often for half an hour 
at atime. When making off swiftly, the tarsal joint, or knee as it is 
called, is seen about an inch above the water, which now in wavelets 
passes over the lower part of the neck and along the sides of the body, 
as it undulates on the planks of a vessel gliding with a gentle breeze. 
Unless during the courting season, or while passing by its mate, I 
never saw a swan with the wings raised and expanded, as it is alleged 
they do, to profit by the breeze that may blow to assist their progress ; 
and yet I have pursued some in canoes to a considerable distance, and 
that without overtaking them, or even obliging them to take to wing. 
You, Reader, as well as all the world, have seen Swans labouring away 
on foot, and therefore I will not trouble you with a description of their 
mode of walking, especially as it is not much to be admired. 
The flight of the Trumpeter Swan is firm, at times greatly elevated 
and sustained. It passes through the air by regular beats, in the same 
manner as Geese, the neck stretched to its full length, as are the feet, 
which project beyond the tail. When passing low, I have frequently 
thought that I heard a rustling sound from the motion of the feathers 
of their wings. If bound to a distant place, they form themselves in 
angular lines, and probably the leader of the flock is one of the oldest 
of the males; but of this I am not at all sure, as I have seen at the 
head of a line a grey bird, which must have been a young one of that 
year. 
This Swan feeds principally by partially immersing the body and 
extending the neck under water, in the manner of fresh-water Ducks 
and some species of Geese, when the feet are often seen working in the 
air, as if to aid in preserving the balance. Often however it resorts to 
the land, and then picks at the herbage, not sidewise, as Geese do, but 
more in the manner of Ducks and poultry. Its food consists of roots 
