532 
WILD SWAN. 
good horses which are trained to the sport, and 
capable of passing nimbly over the boggy soil and 
marshes. By the help of these animals, together 
with some good dogs great numbers of birds are 
taken ; and we are told that the dogs, are taught to 
catch them by the neck, when they immediately 
lose their balance and become an easy prey. Great 
use is made of their plumage ; the Indians of Loui- 
siana forming the large feathers into diadems for 
their chieftains, while the lesser are woven into 
garments for women of rank. The skin, both of 
the body and the legs, has its use ; the former, un- 
plucked, is made into beautiful down tippets for the 
young of both sexes ; and the latter, which looks 
like shagreen, is used for purses. 
It is not surprising that the Icelanders should 
compare the loud and shrill note of the wild swan 
to a musical instrument, when we consider that 
they were to them the harbingers of spring ; they 
were pleasing prophets, who foretold that a speedy 
thaw would release them from their icy bonds. A 
voice that announced to them the end of their long 
and gloomy winter could not fail to be melodious. 
The powers of melody with which the antients 
endued the swan belong exclusively to this species ; 
the tame swan being the most silent of birds, and 
only able to hiss when provoked. It was supposed 
that the souls of departed poets passed into the 
body of this bird, and harmonized its dying 
note : for, unlike all other animated beings, who 
