838 
BIKD-LIFE. 
These last words bring us back to the legend with 
which we started. The Swan, like many other birds, 
utters sounds when dying, but these cannot be termed a 
song. Its anxious call for food and its death-cry are 
musical, but do not amount to a melody, as the poets 
would fain have us believe; there is no joyous jubilee of 
sound uttered by the dreaming spirit as it seeks to loose 
itself from the bonds of its earthly tenement: the dijing 
bird is no longer capable of song. 
The Swan is a strict monogamist,—once paired, paired 
for life. The couple leave their home in October and 
November if food is scarce, and migrate in company to 
foreign lands, live there during the winter in the closest 
companionship, returning home again together in February 
or March. They love solitude, and from this cause will 
not allow another pair to intrude upon their beat; still 
the pairs visit one another on either side, because two 
males like occasionally to have a “ set-to.” When two or 
more pairs inhabit one lake the males mark out certain 
boundaries, and attack any trespasser with the greatest 
vehemence; all intruders are driven back. The male shows 
himself off in all his beauty for the gratification of his 
mate, displaying all his powers in the art of swimming, 
and putting himself in the most graceful attitudes. The 
large nest is either placed on a small island, or forms a 
floating structure on the surface of the water. It is strongly 
or loosely built, according to the structure of the different 
aquatic plants of which it is built; but be it firmly or 
loosely put together it is always strong enough to admit 
of both partners sitting on it at the same time. In ponds 
or lakes where these birds breed regularly, each pair uses 
the old nest as a foundation for the new one, and only add 
to it. In the middle of April, but in the north only in the 
