ANA 
pfa green!Hi cab, refembling the fea-wrack, amongft which 
they rdkle for (bine time after their birth. 
y\NARRHOE'A, / [from ett», upward, and f£w, to 
(low.3 A flux cf humours from below upwards. 
ANAR'THROI, f. [from a. nsg. ande^po*, a joint.] 
Fat, even to be bloated, io that the joints are obliterated. 
A'NAS, in ornithology, a genus of birds belonging to 
the order of auferes ; tiie dibinguiflung charaflers of which, 
are; bill lamellar and toothed, convex, obtufe ; tongue 
ciliate, obtufe. This very extenfive genus includes the 
fwans, the geefe, the ducks, the (heldrakes, tb.e (bonders, 
the wigeons, the gafganeys, and the teals, forming in all 
one hundred and twenty-four fpecies ; of which the fol¬ 
lowing are the moll remarkable and curious. 
i. The cygnus-fcrus or wild fwan, and tb.e cygnus-man- 
fuetus or tame fwan, conftitute the moil elegant of this 
genus ; and have, on this account, been celebrated by the 
molt difiinguidied poets and ornithologifts, in all ages of 
tb.e world. It has (hewn, that the lion and the tiger on 
tire earth, the eagle and vulture in the air, aflame their 
reign amid the horrors of war, and extend their dominion 
by cruelty and rapine, while the (lately fwan upholds his 
empire on the water in gentlenefs and peace. Endowed 
with ftrength and vigour, but refrained by a fenfe of 
moderation and juftice, he knows to light and conquer, 
yet never urges an attack. Pacific king of the water- 
fowls, he braves the tyrants of tb.e air : lie awaits the eagle, 
•without provoking and without fearing the rencounter. 
He repels his affaults, and oppofes to his talons the attack 
of rapid firokes of a vigorous wing, which ferves him as 
a Ihield; and often does victory crown his exertions. This 
is his only formidable enemy ; all the other ravenous birds 
vefpeCt him ; and he is at peace with all nature. Indeed 
the fwan is the only bird we know of that dares contend 
-with the eagle. He lives rather the friend than the mo¬ 
narch amid ft the numerous tribes of aquatic birds, which 
fubmit to his law. He is only tb.e chief, the principal 
inhabitant, of a peaceful republic ; nor have his citizens 
ought to fear from a ruler who exaCts no more than he 
grants, and whole foie v.ifli is to enjoy tranquility and 
freedom. 
The graces of figure, and the beauty of fliape, corref- 
pond in the fwan to the mildnefs of his difpolition : he 
pleafes every eye ; he decorates, every place that lie fre¬ 
quents ; he is beloved and admired ; and no fpecies more 
deferves our applaufe. On none has nature diffufed fo 
many of thofe noble and gentle graces, which recal the 
image of her mod charming productions : elegant fafiiion 
of body ; roundnefs of form; foftnefs of outline ; white- 
nefs refplendent and pure ; motions full of flexibility and 
exprefflon; attitudes, fometimes animated, fometimes 
gently languifhing: all the features and actions of the fwan 
breathe the volnptuoufnefs, the enchantment which wrap 
our foul at the fight of grace and beauty ; all declare and 
paint it the bird of love; all judify the ingenious and 
fprightly fable, that made this delightful bird the father 
of the molt beautiful of women. 
The noble eafe and freedom of its motions on the water 
befpeak it not only the firft of the winged bailors, but the 
fined model prefented by nature for the art of navigation. 
Its raifed neck and its round fwelling bread exhibit the 
prow of a fhip cleaving the waves ; its broad ftomach re- 
prefents the keel ; its body, pielfed down before, riles 
behind into the hern; the tail is a genuine rudder; its feet 
are broad oars; audits wings, half opened to the wind, 
and gently inflated, are the fails which impel the animated 
machine. Thus fne is finely deferibed by our poet Milton : 
The fwan, with arched neck 
Between her white wings mantling proudly, rows 
Her date with oary feet. 
Proudly of its fuperiority, and emulous of dibinCtion, the 
fwan feems forward to unveil its beauties; feeks to charm 
the fpeTators, and to command their applaufe. And the 
fight indeed captivates the eye, whether we behold the 
A N- A 515 
winged fleet at a didance gliding through the water, or 
view one, invited by fignals, approach the (bore and dif- 
play its elegance and grace by a thoufand pleating undulat ■ 
ing motions. To thefe endowments bedow ed by nature, 
the fwan joins the poffeflion of liberty. He is none of 
thofe (laves which we can conftrain or imprifon. Even 
on our artificial lakes, he retains fo much of the fpirit of 
independence as to exclude every idea of lerv-itude and 
captivity. He roves at will on the water, lands on the 
fhore, wanders to a didance, or (belters himfelf under the 
brink ; lurks among the rulhes, or retires to the remoted 
inlets: then, leaving folitnde, he returns to fociety and to 
the enjoyment which he receives by approaching man ; 
provided we are hofpitable and friendly, not har(h and 
tyrannical. Among our ancedors, too Ample, or too wife, 
to fill their gardens with the frigid beauties of art, indead 
of the lively beauties'of nature, the fwans formed the or¬ 
nament of almod every piece' of water. They cheeped 
tiie gloomy ditches round cables, they decorated mod of 
the rivers, and even that of tlfe capital, the dately-rolling 
Thames, which even to this day affords an anniverfary to 
fome of its magiftrates, to furvey and protect their fwan- 
nery. The fwan fwims fo fad, that a man, walking' with 
hady brides along the banks, can hardly keep pace with it. 
What Albin fays of this bird “ that it fwims well, walks 
ill, and flies indifferently,” is true only of the flight of 
the fwan degraded by domedication ; for when free, and 
efpecially when wild, it flies very loftily and vigoroully. 
Hedod gives it the epithet of asgewoto?, or bird that foars 
above the clouds; Homer clalfes it with the great migra¬ 
tory birds, the cranes and the geefe ; and Plutarch attri¬ 
butes, to two fwans what Pindar fung of two eagles, that 
Jupiter difpatched them from the oppofite extremities cf 
the world, to dilcover the middle by their meeting. The 
fwan, fuperior in every refpeiSt to the goofe, which lives 
only on herbs and grain, procures itfelf a rarer and more 
delicate food. It continually praTiles wiles to enfnafle 
and catch fiih ; it adumes a thoufand different attitudes, 
and draws every pohible advantage from its dexterity and 
drength. It evades and refids its enemies: an old fwan 
fears not in the water the dronged dog: a broke of its 
wing has been known to break a man’s leg ; and they will 
eafily beat down and trample upon youths of thirteen or 
fourteen years of age. Nor does the fwan dread the am- 
bu(h of any foe ; for its courage equals its addrefs and its 
force. 
The wild fwans fly in great flocks, and the tame fwans 
walk and l'wirn in company. Every thing marks their 
focial inbindt ; and that inflinct, the mod agreeable in na¬ 
ture, befpeaks innocent manners, peaceful habits, and that 
delicate and fenfible difpofition which feems to bebow on 
the aftions that flow from it, the merit of moral qualities. 
The fwan alfo prolongs its placid exidence to extreme old 
age. All obfervers afcrjbe to it prodigious longevity : 
fome reprefent it as even palling the term of three centu¬ 
ries ; which mud certainly be an exaggeration. But Wil¬ 
loughby faw a goofe, which was proved to have lived an 
hundred years; and he concludes from analogy that the 
period of the fwan mud extend farther ; both becaule it is 
larger, and becaufe its eggs require longer time to hatch : 
for incubation in birds correfponds to gedation in qua¬ 
drupeds, and bears fome relation, perhaps, to the body’s 
growth, which is proportional to the duration of life. The 
fwan requires two years to attain its full fize, which is a 
very confiderable time; fince, in birds, the developement 
is much quicker than in quadrupeds. The female i'wan 
(its fix weeks at lead; (he begins to lay in the month of 
February ; and, as with the goofe, there is a day’s interval 
between the dropping of each egg. She lays from five to 
eight, but mod commonly fix or feven ; they are white 
and oblong, covered with a thick (hell, and are of a very 
confiderable fize. The ned is placed fometimes on a bed 
of dry herbs on the bank ; fometimes on a heap of broken 
reeds, heaped and even floating on the water. The amo¬ 
rous pair lavifh the fweeted carefles, and feem in their plea- 
fures 
