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the protuberance on the beak is smaller and 
the neck thinner in this, than in the other 
sex. She makes her nest of grass, &c. 
among reeds or rushes, near the water's 
edge ; and lays from six to eight eggs,* 
and occupy about six weeks in hatching 
them. 
The following anecdote related by Dr. 
Latham and copied into Bingley's Animal 
Biography, will serve to shew with what 
ardour the Swan protects her nest. " A 
female, while in the act of sitting, ob- 
served a Fox swimming from the opposite 
shore: she instantly darted into the 
water, and, having kept him at bay for a 
considerable time with her wings, at last 
succeeded f in drowning him ; after which, 
in the sight of several persons, she return- 
ed in triumph. This circumstance took 
place at Pensy in Buckinghamshire. " 
The following we were Eye-witness to. 
Some few years since as a party were 
going in a boat, through a narrow straight 
* The eggs are subject to considerable variation in 
colour, some of them being quite white, and others of 
a dull green. 
2 R 
