So much for the melody of the dying swan. That of the living swan also requires consideration. Mr. Nicol, in his valuable Iceland, Greenland, &c., thus describes the Cygnus musicus which frequents the lakes and rivers of Iceland:
"The largest and noblest of this class [the natatorial] is undoubtedly THE WILD OR WHISTLING SWAN, with pure white plumage, slightly tinged on the head with orange-yellow. This majestic bird is five feet long, and, with extended wings, eight broad. It is rarely seen in Greenland, and appears merely to rest in Faroe, on its journeys to and from Iceland in the spring and autumn. Some of them, however, remain all the winter in the latter, AND DURING THE LONG DARK NIGHTS THEIR WILD SONG IS OFTEN HEARD as they are passing in troops from one place to another. It appears to be a kind of signal or watchword to prevent the dispersion of the party, and is described as remarkably pleasant, RESEMBLING THE TONES OF A VIOLIN, THOUGH SOMEWHAT HIGHER, each note occurring after a distinct interval. THIS MUSIC IS SAID TO PRESAGE A THAW, and hence the Icelanders are well pleased when, in long-continued frosts, it breaks their repose."
He adds in a note, "The account of the MIDNIGHT SONG OF THE SWAN is from Olafsen, who says it 'das allerangenehmste zu hören ist,' is very delightful to hear."
Henderson says of the river Nordura in Iceland, near its confluence with the Hrita:
"The bleakness of the surrounding rocks was greatly enlivened by the number of SWANS that were swimming and SINGING MELODIOUSLY in the river."—Iceland, 2nd ed. p. 277.
In the Edda we find Njörd, god of the winds and waves, when he came back to the mountains to please his wife, thus singing:
"How do I hate the abode of the mountains! There one hears nothing but the howling of wolves, instead of the SWEET SINGING OF THE SWANS who dwell on the sea-shores."
Waterton gives an account of the last moments of a favourite swan which he watched, in hopes of catching "some plaintive sound or other, some soft inflection of the voice," but was "disappointed."
GERONIMO.