BRITISH BIRDS., 
^8o 
fattened far the table, and are fold very high, com- 
monly for a guinea each, and fometimes for more t 
hence it may be prefumed they are better food thait 
m generally imagined. 
This fpeciesi is faid to be found in great numbers 
in Ruffia and Siberia, as well as.; further fduthwardj 
in a wild ftate. They are, without an owners com- 
mon on the river* Trent, and on the falt-water inlet 
of the fea, near Abbotlbury, in Dorfetlhire : they 
are alfo met with on other rivers and lakes in dif- 
ferent parts of the, Britilh ifles.. 
It is the generally received opinion that the Swan 
Eves to a very great age, fome fay a century, and 
others have protracted their lives to three hundred 
years !. Strange as this m.ay appear, there are who 
credit it : the author, however, does not fcruple to 
hazard an opinion, that this over-ftretched longe- 
vity originates, only in traditionary tales, or in idle 
unfounded hear-fay ftories as no one has yet been 
able to fay, with certainty, to what age they attain. 
The female makes her neft, concealed among the 
rough, herbage, near the water’s edge ; flie lays- 
from fix to eight large white eggs, and fits on them- 
about Ex weeks (fome fay eight weeks) before they 
are hatched. The young do not acquire their full 
plumage till the fecond year. 
It is found by experience that the Swan will not^ 
thrive if kept out of the water : confined in a court 
yard, he makes- an aukward figure, and foon be- 
comes dirty, taudry, dull, and fpiritlefs. 
