Cuass II. WILD SWAN. 
few continue in Mainland, one of the Orknies, 
and breed in the little isles of the fresh water 
lochs ; but the multitude retires at the approach 
of spring. On that account, swans are there 
the countryman’s almanack; on their quitting 
the island, they presage good weather; on their 
arrival, they announce bad. ‘These as well as 
most other water fowl, prefer for the purpose of 
incubation, those places that are lest frequented 
by mankind : accordingly we find, that the lakes 
and forests of the distant Lapland are filled dur- 
ing summer with myriads of water fowl, which 
in autumn return to us, and to other more hos- 
_. pitable shores.* e 
The length to the end of the toes is five feet ; 
to that of the tail four feet ten inches ; extent of 
wing seven feet three inches; weight from thir- 
teen to sixteen pounds. The lower part of the 
bill is black; the base of it, and the space 
between that and the eyes, is covered with a 
naked yellow skin; the eyelids are bare and 
yellow ; the whole plumage in old birds is of a 
pure white; the down is very soft and thick; 
the legs black. 
* Flora Lapponica, 273. Ciuvres de M. de Maupertuis. Tom. 
iii. p. 141, 175. According to the observation of that illustrious 
writer, the Lapland lakes are filled with the larve of the Gnat 
(culex pipiens. Lin. syst. 602.) or some other insect, that depo- 
sites its eggs in the water ; which being an agreeable food to water 
fowl, is another cause of their resort to those deserts. 
219 
DEscrip- 
TION. 
