The Whooping Swan.
English Synonyms.—Whistling Swan: Montagu, Selby, Jenyns. Whooping Swan: McGillivray. Wild Swan: Hooper, Elk.
Latin Synonyms.—Anas cygnus ferus: Linn. Anas cygnus: Latham, Temminck. Cygnus ferus: Selby, Jenyns. Cygnus musicus: Bonaparte, McGillivray.
French Synonyms.—Cygne à bec jaune: Temminck. Cygne sauvage of authors.
This is, in all probability, the Swan so celebrated among the ancients. It is found in the northern regions of Europe and Asia; residing in summer within the Arctic circle, and migrating southwards and visiting Holland, France, and the British Islands in winter, although occasionally breeding in the north of Scotland. Southward, it extends to Barbary and Egypt; eastward, it wanders as far as Japan. The note of the Wild Swan is a sort of whoop, uttered several times in succession—a hoarse, hard, and rather discordant cry—and this has given it the name we have adopted; for it is difficult to imagine the grounds on which the Prince of Canino gave it the name of Cygnus musicus.
The peculiar organic distinction of the Swan is the great length of the neck, consisting of twenty-three vertebræ, and the cavity in the sternum for the reception of the trachea, which is admirably described by Mr. Yarrell as descending the passage between the two branches of the forked bone called the merrythought to a level with the keel of the breast-bone, which is double, and receives the tube of the trachea between its two sides, which here turns upon itself after traversing the whole length of the keel, and passes upwards and forwards, and again backwards, till it ends in the vertical bone where the two bronchial tubes go off, one to each lobe of the lungs. This is the apparatus through which the cry is produced, which is variously described as a whistle, a whoop, or a song, according to the fancy of the writer. They fly at a great height when on a migratory journey, and in a wedge-like figure, uttering this note as they proceed, and when heard at a distance it is not unmusical. Mr. McGillivray listened to a flock of Wild Swans coming in from the Atlantic after a gale: their clear, loud, and trumpet-like cries delighted him as they sped their way in lengthened files; but they were too far off for him to decide whether or not they were of this species.
From six to eight eggs, of a greenish white, the female lays, and the incubation lasts about six weeks. The cygnets are at first covered with a grey down, and do not put on their adult plumage until the third year. Swans care but little for concealing their broods, as they feel confident of their power to protect them against every enemy. They will fight even with the Eagle itself, harassing it with beak and wings, until the marauder is glad to make a more or less honourable retreat.
In the protection of their young they display extraordinary courage. On one occasion a female Swan was sitting on the bank of a river, when she perceived a fox swimming towards her from the opposite bank. Thinking that she would be better able to defend herself in her natural element, she took to the water and went to meet the enemy which was threatening her brood. She soon reached him, and, springing upon him with much fury, gave him such a violent blow with her wing that the fox was disabled, and consequently drowned.
The male Swan is equally with the female attentive to the young brood, and watches them with a rare devotion. He carries them about on his back, takes them under his wings to warm them, and never abandons them while they are still young. It is a beautiful sight to see him gliding over the water at the head of his young flock, looking far ahead with an inquisitive eye, and prepared to sweep away any opposing obstacle; whilst the mother keeps some distance behind, ready to protect the rear. How much, too, are they to be admired as they sail majestically over the surface of some solitary lake! If you hide yourself behind the thick reeds so that they have no suspicion of your presence, you may see these noble birds bending their necks into the most graceful curves, plunging their heads into the water, catching it up in their bills, and scattering it behind them, the drops falling round their bodies in glittering rain; or when, beating the water with powerful wing, stirring up a foamy wave, you may behold them all on a sudden, they will briskly spring up and glide majestically over the surface of the water, cleaving it before them with their graceful bodies as the ploughman opens a furrow in the ground with his ploughshare.
Sometimes, however, these elegant birds engage in terrible combats with one another, which often lead to the death of one of the contestants. The Domestic Swan, a more civilised and well-informed bird, does not push matters quite so far; but Wild Swans, which live in the regions of the North—in the lakes of Iceland and Lapland—hold sanguinary tournaments in honour of their fair ones. A combat between two Swans is a duel to the death, in which both adversaries display not only unequalled strength and fury, but also considerable skill and perseverance. The strife will sometimes last several days, and does not terminate until one of the foes has succeeded in twisting his neck round that of his enemy, and has been able to hold him down under water long enough to drown him.
But let us turn from this warlike spectacle and admire the Swan at the moment when, impelled by the stimulus of love, it displays all the graces with which nature has endowed it. Their long and supple necks entwine with one another like garlands of snow, their plumage swells up with gentle undulations, and they display all the splendour of their beauty.
The Swan is certainly conscious of its good looks and grace, for it is constantly busying itself either in cleansing or polishing its feathers. Besides, it unites the useful and the ornamental, by extirpating the weeds which stagnate at the bottom, and by thus transforming what would be a nasty pool into a clear sheet of water.
These birds do not afford good sport with the gun, being unapproachable. In Iceland and Kamtschatka, Swan-hunting takes place during the season of moulting, because the birds are then unable to fly. Dogs trained to this sport chase and run them down; the birds, being soon worn out with fatigue, are easily killed with sticks.
The Russians have another mode of killing Swans. When the snows melt, they allure them by means of stuffed Geese and Ducks. The Swans dart furiously on these decoys. The sportsmen, hidden in a hut constructed of branches of trees and heaps of snow, at short range easily shoot them.
The flesh of the Swan is very indifferent in flavour. Our fore-fathers ate it, but merely from ostentation, for it was only served up on the tables of the greatest nobles. At the present day, the city of Norwich has a preserve for Swans, which are only eaten at the municipal feasts, or sent as presents to distinguished individuals. In these cases, the birds being young and tenderly fed, are by no means, if properly cooked, a dish to be despised. The inhabitants of the frozen regions of the extreme north, even with their imperfect system of cuisine, do not entirely disdain it; but the cause for this is apparently something analogous to the philosophical saying, "as there are no thrushes, we eat blackbirds."
Fig. 100.—Black Swans (Cygnus atratus).
The river Thames is remarkable for the number of Swans which live on it. The greater quantity of them belong to the Queen; the others chiefly to the Vintners' and Dyers' Companies of the City of London; but we never heard that these feast their guests on the noble birds. Deputations from the companies make an annual visit to their preserves, called Swan-hopping, or capering—that is, catching the cygnets, and marking them in the presence of the royal swanherd with the distinguishing brand of the society to whom the parent bird belonged.
Two species of Swans were recognised by Linnæus; but later naturalists, and notably the Prince of Canino, record four species known in Europe—namely, Cygnus olor, C. immutabilis, C. musicus, and C. Bewickii—besides the American species, namely, C. americanus and C. buccinator. There is another species, peculiar to Australia, which is entirely black: efforts have been made successfully to naturalise it in Europe.
The Black Swan (Cygnus atratus).
Synonyms.—Anas Plutonia: Shaw. Chenopis: Wagler.
We here give a representation ([Fig. 100]) of the Black Swan of Australia. This bird, which has now become so common in our ornamental waters, in some respects resembles the White species; it is all black, except a few of the secondary feathers, which are white. In a state of nature, the Black Swans are generally seen in flocks of eight or nine floating on lakes. When disturbed, they fly in single file, and are so shy that it is very difficult to get within gunshot when in captivity. Their note is less harsh than that of the Whooping Swan.
The Frigate Bird (Fregata, Ray).
English Synonym.—Man-of-war Bird: Sloane.
Latin Synonym.—Tachypetes: Vieillot.
The Frigate Bird is principally characterised by a strong, robust, trenchant bill, longer than the head, with mandibles hooked at the point; nostrils linear; orbits naked; throat dilatable; the front of the neck bare of feathers; wings very long and narrow, first two feathers longest; tail lengthy and forked; feet short; toes united by a membrane deeply notched.
The Frigate Bird spreads its wings to the extent of three yards; its power of flight is, therefore, very great. It inhabits the tropical seas of both the Old and New World, and navigators assure us that they have met with it two or three hundred leagues from any shore. When a hurricane arises they mount up far above the storm, and remain in these empyrean regions until it is again fine weather. In consequence of their immense expansion of wing, they can sustain themselves in the air for days together without taking or requiring rest.
Their sight is so piercing that, at a distance far beyond that which would render them invisible to us, they can perceive the flights of Exocœti, or Flying Fish. From their elevated situation, they dart down upon their winged prey, which has relinquished its native element; and, keeping their neck and feet in a horizontal position, and thus grazing the waves, they grasp their victim, which little expected to meet with an enemy in the element which it sought for safety. It is no unusual thing for it to rob the Gannet of the fish which it has just caught: the unfortunate bird thus acts as purveyor to this sea-robber.
The Frigate Bird is of such a combative temperament, and has such an unbounded confidence in its strength, that it is not afraid to defy even man. It has been known to dash at a sailor, and to snatch at the fish which he held in his hand. M. de Kerhoënt, a French navigator, relates that, during a residence at the Island of Ascension, a perfect cloud of Frigate Birds surrounded his crew. They hovered about, a few feet above the coppers of the open-air kitchen, in order to carry off the meat, without being intimidated in the least by the presence of his followers. Some of them approached so near that M. de Kerhoënt knocked down one of the impudent intruders with a blow of his stick.
When these birds have thoroughly feasted on fish, or any other of the marine creatures which constitute their food, they take flight landwards, and proceed to perch upon a tree, in order to digest their food in peace.
They assemble in large flocks on the islands where they are accustomed to breed. In the month of May they begin to repair their old, or construct new nests. They pluck off small dry branches with their beaks, and with these pieces of stick crossed and recrossed a foundation is formed. These nests are suspended from trees which hang over the water, or are placed on rocks in desert islands, overhanging the sea; in them they lay two or three eggs, said to be of a carnation colour dotted with crimson.
These birds are common in the Brazils, in the Island of Ascension, at Timor, the Ladrone Islands, and the Moluccas: in fact, they are to be found in most tropical countries. Navigators, struck with the lightness of their flight and their slender shape, have given them the name they bear, thus comparing them with the fleetest and most elegant of men-of-war. Sir Hans Sloane, who saw numbers of them at Jamaica, describes them under the name of Man-of-War Birds. "They fly," he says, "like Kites, look black, are very large-winged in proportion to their size, and they fight with Sea Gulls for their prey." They are eminently raptorial. Ray speaks of their eagle eye, vulturine claws, and cat-like gliding movements, their immense extent of wing, and their dashing swoop.
The Palmipede we are about to notice received from Linnæus the mythological name of Phaeton, in allusion to the son of Apollo and Clymene, who is said to have made an audacious attempt to drive the chariot of the Sun.