THE WILD SWAN. 125 



There were Fieldfares in troops ; of the Missel- 

 Thrush few ; 



These their songs on the elm now and then would 

 renew, 



the mute swan, from its uttering no sound except its hissing. It 

 is a stately and ornamental bird : thus Thomson: 



*■ The stately sailing swan 

 Gives out his snowy plumage to the gale, 

 And, arching proud his neck, with oary feet 

 Bears onward fierce and guards his osier isle 

 Protective of his young." 



Spring. 



Swans and their eggs are protected by several statutes : whe- 

 ther they are now acted upon I am not aware. 



Swan's Down, as well as the down from most of this tribe of 

 birds is, it is well known, white, soft, and delicate j its use for 

 beds is sufficiently appreciated by the luxurious. See forwards, 

 article Eider-Duck. 



The Cygnus (ferus), Wild Swan, Whistling Swan, Elk, or 

 Hooper, is inferior in size to the preceding ; length four feet 

 ten inches, and weighs from fifteen to twenty-five pounds. The 

 beak is black towards the point, yellow for some distance from 

 the base ; plumage a pure white. Eggs four. It has a very loud 

 call, greatly resembling that of a cuckoo ; utters a melancholy 

 sound when one of the flock happens to be destroyed ; hence, 

 said by the poets to sing in dying. It visits the lakes of Scot- 

 land every winter, but comes more southward only in severe 

 weather. Found in all the northern regions of the globe. 



The Nigricollis, or Black-necked Swan, is found on the 

 Falkland Islands; the Alrata, or Black Swan, at Botany Bay. 

 Of this last the bill is of a rich scarlet ; the whole plumage 

 (except the primaries and secondaries, which are white,) is of 

 the most intense black. It is larger than the White Swan, of 



