FAUNA. 243 
some which are peculiar to the country, but these are con- 
fined to the southern forest districts and arable regions of 
the country. 
On the northern coast are seen the gossander or dun 
diver; the smew or white nun, and other species of 
messenger—merginas—a. sub-family of the palmipeds ;- 
the dove-kie, or black gullimot; the eider duck, and the 
whistling swan. 
The Cygnus musicus, or whistling swan, is famous for 
its migrations. It measures five feet from the tip of the 
bill to the end of the tail, and eight feet from tip to tip 
of its extended wings; the plumage is snow-white, with a 
slight tinge of orange or yellow on the head. Some of 
‘these swans winter in Iceland ; and it is said that in the 
long Arctic night their song, as they pass in flocks, falls 
on the ear of the listener like the notes of a violin. It is 
an old story that the dying swan sings its own dirge. 
Tennyson sings in reference to this :— 
‘ With an inner voice the river ran, 
Adown it floated a dying swan, 
And loudly did lament— 
The wild swan’s death-hymn took the soul 
Of that waste place with joy 
Hidden in sorrow : at first to the ear 
The warble was low, and fall, and clear ; 
But anon her jubilant voice, 
With a music strange and manifold, 
Flowed forth a carol free and bold— 
And the creeping mosses and clambering weeds, 
And the willow branches hoar and dank, 
And the wavy swell of the soughing reeds, 
And the wave-worn leaves of the echoing bank, 
And the silvery marish-flowers that throng 
The desolate creeks and ports among, 
Were flooded over with eddying song.’ 
This is told as what is known of the common domesti- 
cated swan, which is also found in a wild state, Cygnus,— 
but it is alleged that the wild swan’s voice, even in its 
death hour, has no such musical sweetness as is thus 
extolled. It is said to be always harsh and dissonant, and 
