THE SWIMMERS. 121 



a considerable distance, or pushing them before him in heaps towards the selected locality. The nest, 

 when completed, is a very large but inartistically constructed pile, composed of all sorts of water 

 plants, confusedly heaped together, but surmounted with a finer covering of sedge grass and other 

 softer materials. The place chosen for the situation of the nest is generally some small island, and 

 its size such that it would float even with the weight of its occupants upon it. In this capacious 

 cradle the female Swan lays from six to eight thick-shelled eggs, of a dirty white, or dirty pale green 

 colour, from which, after the lapse of five or six weeks, the young brood make their escape. When 

 first hatched the Cygnets are pretty little creatures, warmly clad in a thick covering of down ; after 

 having remained in the nest for a day or so, they venture out and trust themselves upon the water. 

 Sometimes the mother carries them upon her back, sometimes takes them beneath the shelter of her 

 wings, and always watches over them with the greatest tenderness and anxiety, until they are able 

 to take care of themselves. No sooner, however, are they completely fledged, than they finally 

 separate themselves from their parents, never to see them again ; for should they next year make their 

 appearance in the same locality, they would at once be driven away, and treated as any other 

 intruders. The food of the Swans is very diversified, consisting of such vegetables of various kinds 

 as grow in ponds and marshes, roots, leaves, and seeds, beetles and their larvae, worms, snails, 

 tadpoles, and fishes ; anything, in short, that affords nourishment. They are not so strictly vegetable 

 feeders as the Geese, neither are they so carnivorous as the Ducks, but in this respect they seem to 

 occupy a middle position between the two. Their food is principally obtained at the bottom of the 

 pond, which, owing to the length of their necks, they are able to reach, even in water of considerable 

 depth ; and here they gather aquatic plants, or, straining the mud through their sieve-like jaws, extract 

 such nutriment as it affords. 



As the Wild Swans, owing to their great size and strength, are well able to defend themselves 

 against ordinary assailants, they have few enemies to fear, with the exception of the larger Eagles 

 and of the arch-destroyer, man himself, who wages constant war against them, partly on account of 

 their flesh, which affords excellent food, and partly for their feathers and down, the latter of which 

 in particular is extremely valuable. The chase after these birds, however, requires considerable 

 skill and perseverance, owing to their extreme watchfulness and the rapidity of their flight. In the 

 north they are generally pursued in a boat whilst they are swimming in the water ; the sportsman 

 taking advantage of a high wind, and then steering with all sail directly towards them, in this manner 

 he is sometimes able to approach them so closely as to get them within range of his gun, more 

 especially as they always prefer to fly right against the wind. In Algeria, as Buvry informs us, they 

 are taken in the same manner as the Flamingoes, by wading towards them under cover of floating 

 herbage, or they are often captured on the shores of sheltered bays by means of hooks, and lines of 

 camel's hair, baited with bread, flesh, or fish. When the bird has swallowed the bait, says Buvry, 

 it must perforce remain quiet until the hunter comes to rescue it from its unpleasant position. 



THE MUTE SWAN. 



The Mute Swan (Cygnus olor), the species so frequently seen in this country living upon our 

 ornamental water in a state of semi-domestication, and sometimes described by writers as the " Tame 

 Swan" (Cygnus mansuetus) is, in its wild state, an inhabitant of Northern Europe and Northern Asia, 

 more especially of Eastern Siberia, and is easily recognisable by the callous protuberance at the base 

 of its bill. Its body is elongate, its neck extremely long and slender, and its bill, which is nearly of 

 the same length as the head, of a red colour, surmounted at its base with the black knob-like 

 protuberance above alluded to. The plumage of the adult is white, that of the young grey, or 

 occasionally white. The eye is brown, the beak red, while the bridles and protuberance at the base 

 vol. iv. — 134 



