A POETIC FABLE. 
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genial South. The single species of this genus that permanently 
resides in England is the fantastically-named mute swan, which, unlike 
most of its congeners, has a soft and not altogether unmelodious voice. 
.She builds her nest among the aquatic plants that fringe the edges of 
our streams and pools, constructing it chiefly of reeds and rushes inter- 
woven with sedge and grasses, and raising it to a considerable height. 
The locality chosen is always silent and secluded. 
A NORTnERN LAKE. 
Our readers will be familiar with the old poetic fable which 
represented the swan as singing a wonderful sweet song in the hour 
of death. Tennyson has availed himself of the fiction in a rich and 
elaborate poem. He first describes the swan's haunt : — 
" The plain was grassy, wild, and bare, 
Wide, wild, and open to the air, 
Which had built up everywhere 
An under-roof of doleful gray. 
With an inner voice the river ran ; 
Adown it floated a dj^ing swan, 
And loudly did lament. 
It was the middle of the day. 
Ever the weary wind went on. 
And took the reed-tops as it went. " / 
Next he expresses the death-hymn of the swan in language of tlie 
utmost richness : — 
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