320 NATURAL HISTORY IN ANECDOTE. 



form as it glides along the river making it one of the prettiest 

 sights in nature. There are several varieties of the swan, of 

 which the Whooping Swan and the Common Swan of Europe, 

 the Black Swan of Australia, and the Black-necked Swan of 

 South America are the most familiar. 



The Matemai "^^^ swan is assiduous in the care of her young, 

 Instinct of the and shows great intelligence in providing for 

 Swan. them as well as ; courage in their defence. She 

 makes her nest in the grass among reeds; and in February- 

 begins to lay, depositing egg after egg, until there are six or 

 eight. Dr. Latham mentions two females that for three or 

 four years successively, agreed to associate, and had each a 

 brood yearly, bringing up together about eleven young ones : 

 they sat by turns, and never quarrelled. Captain Brown 

 gives a remarkable illustration of the courage of a swan in 

 defending her nest. He says: — "A female swan, while in the 

 act of sitting, observed a fox swimming towards her from the 

 opposite shore: She instantly darted into the water, and 

 having kept him at bay for a considerable time with her 

 wings, at last succeeded in drowning him ; after which, in the 

 sight of several persons, she returned in trimnph. This cir- 

 cumstance took place at Pensy, in Buckinghamshire." 

 The Swan's Mr. Yarrell, in his " British Birds," mentions a 

 inteUigenoe. remarkable instance of the sagacity and intelligence 

 of the swan: "A female swan was sitting on four or five 

 eggs. One day she was observed to be very busy in collecting 

 weeds, grasses, and sticks, to raise her nest above its usual 

 level. A kind-hearted farming man threw her some handfuls 

 of brushwood, with which she most industriously raised her 

 nest, and soon placed the eggs about two feet and a half 

 above the old level. That night there came down a tremen- 

 dous fall of rain, which flooded all the fields and cellars, 

 and did great damage in the village. Man made no prepar- 

 ation — the bird did; and instinct prevailed over reason! 

 Her eggs were above, and only just above, the water." 



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