THE WILD SWAN. 
But lot us now turn our attention to the Wild Swans 
whicli visit our shores, especially during severe winters ; and 
first to that most common of the four which some naturalists 
call Cijgnus ferns, the Wild or Whistling Swan, the largest 
and rarest of our winter visitants, though by no means un- 
common in some parts of the kingdom. These Swans may 
generally be seen during the winter on the Scotch and Welsh 
lakes, and occasionally on the Thames, Southampton Water, 
and the various inlets of the sea round the coasts. The 
closeness of their down, and the density of their feathers, 
render them proof against the ordinary charge of a fowling- 
piece, and hence a very heavy charge of large shot or slugs 
must be employed to secure them. 
The Wild Swan lacks the dignity of the tame one. He 
carries his neck erect, without that beautiful curve, ^ the 
line of beauty and of grace,' which characterises his do- 
mesticated namesake. His plumage is not so snowlike, and, 
in sailing along the stream, his wings are carried compactly 
with his body, and not in that graceful attitude which in 
the tame bird wins our admiration. There are also marked 
differences, which lead us to believe that he springs from a 
different stock. He wants the caruncle, or knob on the 
iij)per mandible ; his trachea (windpipe) is organised differ- 
ently, and, as a necessary consequence, his voice is changed. 
Its tones, though harsh, when heard far above and modu- 
lated by the winds, are not unmusical. The Laplanders 
hear them after their long and gloomy winter, and, as the 
harbingers of summer, hail them with rapture. The Wild 
Swans, of which two or three varieties visit us during the 
winter, depart early, taking advantage of the first favour- 
able wind, on the brea'>;ing up of the frosts. Their flight 
is high, and, with a stiff breeze, uncommonly rapid, 
being about 100 miles an hour, making their spring voyage 
a mere day's journey. By far the greater number of them 
enter the polar regions, La^^land, Siberia, Kamtschatka, and 
the countries aroimd Hudson's Bay, being their favourite 
breeding-places. A few breed in the very northernmost 
parts of the Highlands of Scotland, in the Orkney, Shet- 
land, and Faroe Isles. Powerful as they are, they fall an 
easy prey to the eagles and more powerful falcons, who 
