104 LITTLE FOLKS 
by swimming, so of course boys and girls who go to the park, can 
only look at it from the shore, and wish they had it for a play house. 
It isn't put there just to look at, however. Little as it is, it's 
the home of quite a family — Papa, Mamma, and six or eight babies. 
The parents are white as snow, dignified and majestic in their 
movements, and very haughty to the common residents in the 
neighborhood, who don't live in an elegant home on an island; but 
the children wear neat gray suits till they're grown up. 
If you want to see these aristocratic islanders, look at our 
picture. I think their house must be over behind the trees on that 
island. 
We call them simply Swans, but the men who make the big 
books, and give hard names to all the pretty birds, call this family 
Lamellirostral Palmipedes. 
Arn't you glad you needn't twist your mouth over that awful 
name ? 
Children who visit the park where these beautiful creatures 
live, always carry pockets full of bread or crackers to feed the 
swans, and as soon as they see a party of children, they come up 
to the shore, expecting a lunch. 
When the children — the swan children, I mean — are young, 
it's very interesting to see the whole family out for a sail. Papa 
swan goes ahead to keep off any meddlers, and Mamma swan keeps 
behind to protect them from that way. In fact, they're very exem- 
plary parents, both father and mother being ready to fight any one 
who disturbs their funny little gray babies. 
Besides being beautiful, this swan family is useful. They 
destroy weeds at the bottom of the pond, and so keep the water 
clear and sweet. 
It's amusing to see them digging away under water, to get up 
some tough weed. They don't go down like a fish, but they turn a 
sort of summerset, sticking their heads down, and leaving their 
tails standing straight up out of water. It's the drollest sight 
you ever saw, and looks as though they were standing on their 
heads. 
In olden times, people used to eat swans, but they're not very 
good, and we prefer ducks and turkeys. 
Besides domestic swans, there are several kinds of wild ones. 
One, called the whooping swan, lives in Europe and Asia, and 
makes a harsh and unpleasant cry. 
