ity." Goldsmith's own belief was that 

 the ancients had some mythological 

 meaning in ascribing melody to the swan, 

 "and as for the moderns, they scarcely de- 

 serve our regard. The swan must, there- 

 fore, be content with that share of fame 

 that it possesses on the score of its beau- 

 ty, since the melody of its voice, without 

 better testimony, will scarcely be admitted 

 by even the credulous." 



This better testimony is furnished by 

 Charles de Kay, who says that modern 

 bird-lovers have heard the swans of Rus- 

 sia singing their ow^n dirge in the North, 

 when, having lingered too long before mi- 

 gration, reduced in strength by lack of 

 food, and frozen fast to the ice where they 

 have rested over night, they clang their 

 lives out, even as the ancients said. 



Inasmuch as we have record of the 

 Singing, or Whistling Swan from Egypt 

 to Alaska and the Aleutian Isles, with 

 testimony of modern scientists as well as 

 ancient poets in proof of the vocality of 

 this, the largest of singing birds, the 

 question becomes one of quality of song 

 rather than of the actuality of the song 

 itself. M. Montbeillard's opinion of the 

 whistler's vocal exertions is thus ex- 

 pressed: 'The bursts of its voice form 

 a sort of modulated song, yet the shrill 

 and scarcely diversified notes of its loud 

 clarion sounds differ widely from the ten- 

 der melody, the sweet, brilliant variety of 

 our birds of song." And M. Morin even 

 composed a memoir, entitled ''Why 

 swans that sang so well in ancient times 

 now sing so badly." It is probable that 

 the ancients, with due consideration for 

 the difference in size between the swan 

 and all other songsters, may have also 

 given consideration in the same ratio to 

 the theory of the enchantment that dis- 

 tance lends ; and it is more than probable 

 that all of this confusion of testimony re- 

 sulted from confusion of species ; for, as 

 Charles de Kay explains, observations of 

 the Mute Swan caused people to assign 

 the song of the dying swan to the most 

 fabulous of fables ; while Hearne, who ob- 

 served the Trumpeter, makes the follow- 

 ing vigorous statement : 'T have heard 

 them in serene evenings, after sunset, 

 make a noise not very unlike that of a 

 French horn, but entirely divested of 



every note that constituted melody, and 

 have often been sorry that it did not fore- 

 bode their death." 



Aldrovand, referring to the structure 

 of the organs of voice as countenancing 

 the poetical creed of the singing swan, 

 says, "For when we observe the great 

 variety of modulations which can be pro- 

 duced from a military trumpet, and, going 

 upon the axiom that Nature does nothing 

 in vain, compare the form of such a trum- 

 pet with the more ingenious mechanism 

 of a swan's windpipe, we cannot but con- 

 clude that this instrument is at least capa- 

 ble of producing the sounds which have 

 been described by the ancient authors." 



In distinguishing between the Whis- 

 tling and Tame or Mute Swans, Bingley 

 describes this strange form of windpipe, 

 "Which falls into the chest, then turns 

 back like a trumpet, and afterwards makes 

 a second bend to join the lungs. The 

 curve being inside the neck of the 

 Whistler or Hooper, instead of being an 

 external adornment, as in the case of the 

 graceful Mute, in whom 

 'Behold! The mantling spirit of reserve 

 Fashion® his neck into a goodly curve, 

 An arch thrown back between luxuriant 



wings 

 Of whitest garniture, like fir-tree boughs, 

 To which, on some unruffled morning, clings 

 A dusky weight of winter's purest snows ' 



while with the Musical Swan the gift of 

 voice is balanced by a corresponding de- 

 traction from personal appearance ; for 

 the straight neck and smaller stature im- 

 part, we are told (alas !), a certain goose- 

 like suggestion." 



This aesthetic obstacle is, ho\vever, suc- 

 cessfully surmounted by the fact that their 

 songs are uttered mostly at night, when 

 flying far overhead in the darkness ; but 

 there is no help for the statement of Al- 

 bertus Magnus, which must needs be 

 taken for better or for worse, that "When 

 swans fight, they hiss and emit a sort of 

 bombilation, not unlike the braying of an 

 ass, but not so much prolonged." 



The Abbe Arnaud, whose observations 

 were said to be very minute, completes the 

 list of odious comparisons as follows: 

 "One can hardly say that the swans of 

 Chantilly sing; they cry, but their cries 

 are truly and constantly modulated ; their 



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