THE BIRDS. 523 



Our water is the resort of various water-birds. One winter, 

 during the cold weather, we had a visit from the Hooper Swan 

 {Cygnus ferus, fig. 1123). He alighted on the lake, and remained 

 peaceably on the same piece of water with the other swans, though 

 he kept at a respectful distance from them. When the period of 



Fig. 1123. — Hooper Swan. 



incubation came, the common swans would no longer tolerate his 



presence, and drove him ignominiously from the lake. 



"Behold as with a gushing impulse heaving 

 That downy prow, and softly cleaving 

 The mirror of the crystal flood."— Wordsworth. 



On the island we have a swannery, where the Common Swans 

 {Cygnus .olor, fig. 11 24) build and rear their young. Sometimes they 

 have five, at others seven at a brood. When first hatched the old birds 

 continually guard their young, which at the slightest alarm run up 

 the back of the female swan, and are carried about by her. 



"So doth the swan her downy cygnets save, 

 Keeping them prisoner underneath her wings." 



Shakspeare. 



On these occasions the male bird remains near at hand, and is 

 ready to fight all aggressors ; and woe to any dog which shall come 

 within his reach. He does not, however, carry the young swans on his 

 back. I once knew a rat to build its nest in a hole near a swan's 

 nest. The male bird having discovered it, thrust his beak into the 



