14 1NJ)IAX ItUCK^. 



ill the inluiljiteJ districts, it is little uso to look for tlioir eggs before you 

 pass the Mast farm.' ;i> they are generally taken eith(M- to eat or sell/^ 



Tliev also breed^ but not, I believe, in great nuniijers, in South Green- 

 land and in the north of Europe, and in Asia as far south as it is allowed 

 by humanity — which is, of course, equivalent to slaughter. 



All Swans seem to have the same lirfcdiiij^-jiabir-. Tlify make huge 

 nests of rushes, grass, and any other vegetable inatei-ial which is soft 

 enough and easily moved ; the preference is naturally given to such kind 

 as is most handy. These are placed on the borders of marshes and swamps, 

 often on islands situated in such places, sometimes actually in shallow 

 water. 3Iore i-areh' they are placed by rivers, either u\) on the banks 

 removed from the river itself, or in amongst the i-aiik herl)age l)ordering 

 its course. When placed aetually in water, the swans are said to raise 

 their nests when it happens to rise and threatens to swamp them : and as 

 tame swans do this, it is in all probability true that the wild ones do 

 also. They lay from four to eight eggs, l)Ut in captivity often lay a larger 

 numl)'T -rill. I have known a tame duck-swan lay fourteen eggs in a 

 sitting. According to Morris, the smaller number of eggs laid are generally 

 those of vouno- birds, whilst the oreater number of ego-.s are laid bv those 

 fully adult. I should think, however, judging l)y analogy, that though 

 birds of the first season m;iy hiy fewer eggs than is normal, it i-^ on the 

 other hand, almost certain that very old birds lay but small clutches. 



Their breeding-season naturally varies very much according to the 

 country they breed in. In the warmer — less cold would, perhaps, be a more 

 correct expression — countries they connnence breeding in Mav, but in 

 Iceland, Greenland, &c. they are normally at lea>t a iiKjinh hitei-. and 

 August even may still tind some of the latest birds laying. 



Incubation lasts from 35 to 10 days, 37 being the most u>u;d nuinber 

 of days for a swan to sit, though eggs of the same clutch mav varv 

 <-onsiderably in this respect. 



Swans are very good parents and look after their young with the 

 greatest care, the duck-bird often carrying her young ones about on her 

 hiiek whenever they want a rest. 



in the ' Asian ' of the ;3tli March the following curious note was 

 published; and from the habitat of the swans mentioned, concerning which 

 the note was written, it probably relates to C. niu.sicug: — 



•'A Scandinavian writer, cit(.'(l by the 'Zoologist,' has recently descriljed 

 a curious method of caj)turiii;i- swans much employed for centuries past in 

 the north-west of Iceland. • The swans, after moulting in autunm, leave 



