Swamp, s. A marsh, a bog, a fen.
Swampy, a. Boggy, fenny.
Swan, s. A large waterfowl.
Mute Swan. (Anas Cygnus Mansuetus, Linn.; Le Cygne, Buff.)—The plumage of this species is of the same snowy whiteness as that of the wild swan, and the bird is covered next the body with the same kind of fine close down; but it greatly exceeds the wild swan in size, weighing about twenty-five pounds, and measuring more in the length of the body and extent of the wings. This also differs in being furnished with a projecting callous black tubercle, or knob, on the base of the upper mandible, and in the colour of the bill, which in this is red, with black edges and tips: the naked skin between the bill and the eyes is also of the latter colour: in the wild swan this bare space is yellow.
The manners and habits are much the same in both kinds, particularly when they are in a wild state; for indeed this species cannot properly be called domesticated; they are only as it were partly reclaimed from a state of nature, and invited by the friendly and protecting hand of man to decorate and embellish the artificial lakes and pools which beautify his pleasure grounds. On these the swan cannot be accounted a captive, for he enjoys all the sweets of liberty. Placed there, as they are the largest of all the British birds, so are they to the eye the most pleasing and elegant.
The swan, although possessed of the power to rule, yet molests none of the other water birds, and is singularly social and attentive to those of his own family, which he protects from every insult. While they are employed with the cares of the young brood, it is not safe to approach near them, for they will fly upon any stranger, whom they often beat to the ground by repeated blows, and they have been known by a stroke of the wing to break a man’s leg. But, however powerful they are with their wings, yet a slight blow on the head will kill them.
The swan for ages past has been protected on the Thames as royal property, and it continues at this day to be accounted felony to steal their eggs. By this means their increase is secured, and they prove a delightful ornament to that noble river. Latham says, in the reign of Edward IV. the estimation they were held in was such, that no one who possessed a freehold of less than the clear yearly value of five marks, was permitted even to keep any. In those times hardly a piece of water was left unoccupied by these birds, as well on account of the gratification they gave to the eye of their lordly owners, as that which they also afforded when they graced the sumptuous board at the splendid feasts of that period; but the fashion of those days is passed away, and swans are not nearly so common now as they were formerly, being by most people accounted a coarse kind of food, and consequently held in little estimation; but the cygnets (so the young swans are called) are still fattened for the table, and are sold very high, commonly for a guinea each, and sometimes for more: hence it may be presumed they are better food than is generally imagined.
The female makes her nest, concealed among the rough herbage, near the water’s edge; she lays from six to eight large white eggs, and sits on them about six weeks (some say eight weeks) before they are hatched. The young do not acquire their full plumage till the second year.
It is found by experience that the swan will not thrive if kept out of the water; confined in a court-yard he makes an awkward figure, and soon becomes dirty, tawdry, dull, and spiritless.