Birds Swans 
when in the water, so that they may rest on her 
back, and not become too tired. The father swan will 
often do this also. Each pair, with its family, owns 
a certain region, and resents intrusion from other 
birds and animals. The parents are especially 
fierce in the defence of the nest and young; they 
cannot inflict much of a wound with the beak, but 
they thresh the enemy with their powerful wings. 
The cygnets are covered with gray down at first; 
they get their white plumage the second year, and 
breed the year after. Swans are very long-lived, 
some specimens are known to have attained the age 
of fifty years, and there is a current belief that they 
may live to be eighty or a hundred years old. 
The swan has always appealed to the imagination, 
because of its stately grace and beautiful plumage. 
It appears often in fairy stories and folk lore, from 
the Ugly Duckling to Lohengrun. Once young 
swans were an article of food for luxurious tables. 
Swansdown, used for boas and for trimming gar- 
ments is made from the skin of the breast of the 
swan. Formerly the swan’s wing quills were much 
esteemed for pens. 
HOUSE 
Swans are hardy. All the protection they need is 
a small shed, open to the south on the border of a 
pond. They are decidedly aquatic, and must al- 
ways have access to the water. 
FOOD 
The natural food of the swan consists of seeds, 
leaves and roots of aquatic plants; and if the pond 
is well stocked with these, the birds will thrive. 
However, they will do well when kept on grain of 
222 
