THE DOMESTIC SWAN. 



123 



which had previously been observed in that 

 quarter. This made me suspect that my poor 

 swan had fallen by that identical shot, for I 

 never saw it more. 



Were wild swans less persecuted on their 

 annual visit to the shores of Great Britain, we 

 should see much more of their habits than we 

 do at present. I once had a flock of fifty-two 

 real wild swans here. They seemed aware of 

 the protection afforded them, and they tarried 

 with me above a month. Six years after this 

 another flock sojourned on the lake for about a 

 week. 



There is a peculiarity in the nidification of 

 the domestic swan too singular to be passed 

 over without notice. At the time that it lays 

 its first egg, the nest which it has prepared is of 

 a very moderate size ; but, as incubation pro- 

 ceeds, we see it increase vastly in height and 

 breadth. Every soft material, such as pieces of 

 grass and fragments of sedges, are laid hold of 

 by the sitting swan as they float within her 

 - reach, and are added to the nest. This work 

 of accumulation is performed by her during the 

 entire period of incubation, be the weather wet 

 or dry, settled or unsettled ; and it is perfectly 



