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but is a method of brooding her young on the water, very commonly practised by the female 

 Swan whilst her Cygnets are small ; and she will sink herself low in the water that they may 

 mount more easily. Whether at the same time she gives them a ' leg up ' by raising them on the 

 broad webs of her own feet I cannot say positively ; but this is not improbable, since a favourite 

 action in Swans is that of swimming with one foot resting upon the lower part of the back, the 

 sole of the foot being uppermost. With reference also to this means of transporting the young 

 from one spot to another, a curious fact has recently come to my knowledge, which marks as 

 well the attachment of these birds to their accustomed nesting-places. An old hen Swan, 

 one of Dick's protegees, which in autumn and winter frequents the Yare, between Thorpe and 

 Whitlingham, regularly as the spring comes round makes her appearance, with her mate, on 

 Surlingham Broad, a distance (allowing for the windings of the stream) of nearly six miles, 

 and proceeds at once to collect materials for her nest in that locality. Shortly, however, after 

 the young are hatched this same pair, the female with her little progeny on her back, may 

 be seen passing from the broad into the river, where, turning their heads up stream with an 

 evidently settled purpose in view, they commence the return journey to Thorpe ; and from 

 observations made by ferry-keepers and others, to whom this habit is known, it is believed the 

 whole route is accomplished without stopping to feed by the way. Two other pairs that 

 regularly nest on the same broad return with their young during the summer to their winter 

 quarters at Bramerton, some three miles up the river ; and on one occasion a female which had 

 been conveyed to Surlingham in the spring, and paired on the broad, returned with her Cygnets 

 to a spot near the ' Clarence Harbour Inn,' at Carrow, distant about seven miles, where she had 

 by chance been turned off in the previous winter. 



" Swans pair for life, build a fresh nest each season, and, if left unmolested, will keep pretty 

 close to the same locality. Adult birds invariably nest earlier than young, owing chiefly, no 

 doubt, to the advantage which an old cock Swan possesses over a young one of maintaining his 

 right to any selected spot, whilst a young couple just ' setting up ' for themselves have many 

 drawbacks to encounter. ' Might is right ' in such matters ; and many battles have to be fought 

 to secure a locus standi; and occasionally young couples will select unfavourable sites, from 

 which the marshmen, well knowing their eggs would be stolen, drive them off as soon as they 

 commence building. A young male, though paired with an old female, would have an equal 

 difficulty in holding his ground. Young hen birds do not lay till their second year, some not until 

 the third or fourth, and commence by laying three to five eggs. A second-year bird paired with 

 a male of her own age usually lays three eggs the first season, but will probably commence with 

 five, if paired with an old male. Commencing with five eggs, the same bird will lay from seven 

 to nine the next season, and in the following year from ten to eleven, being then in her prime, 

 at four years old. Hen birds which have not paired till their third or fourth year will lay from 

 seven to nine in their first season ; but from Dick's observations it would seem that a second-year 

 female, commencing with only three eggs, rarely, if ever, lays more than nine. I have no reason 

 to question the accuracy of these statistics (though necessarily beyond my own cognizance), my 

 informant having been accustomed for years, in company with the recognized swanherd, to 

 examine the majority of the nests in his neighbourhood whilst the birds are laying, carefully 

 noticing the number of the eggs in each, the owner's -marks on the birds, and their respective 



