THE SWAN. 20 1 



The Swan (Cygniis olor), being identified with Orpheus, 

 and called also the bird of Apollo, the god of music, 

 powers of song have been often attributed to it, and as 

 often denied : — 



" I will play the swan, and die in music." 



Othello, Act v. Sc. 2. 



" A swan-like end, fading in music." 



Merchant of Venice, Act iii. Sc. 2. 



Prince Henry, at his father's death-bed, exclaims, — 



" 'Tis strange that death should sing ! 

 I am the cygnet to this pale, faint swan, 

 Who chants a doleful hymn to his own death ; 

 And, from the organ-pipe of frailty, sings 

 His soul and body to their lasting rest." 



King John, Act v. Sc. 7. 

 Again, in Lucrece, we read — 



" And now this pale swan in her watery nest, 

 Begins the sad dirge of her certain ending.'' 



But although the swan has no "song," properly so 

 called, it has a soft and rather plaintive note, monotonous, 

 but not disagreeable. I have often heard it in the spring, 

 when swimming about with its young. 



Colonel Hawker, in his " Instructions to Young Sports- 

 men" (nth ed. p. 269), says: — "The only note which I 

 ever heard the wild swan, in winter, utter, is his well- 



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