SWANS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume III, Issue 135, 3 December 1875, Page 14

SWANS.

The swan's nest is an incongruous assemblage o£ reeds, stiuw, and stubble, which, the bird has the instinct to raise while floods are impending, and has no claim to order or ingenuity in its construction. It is mostly placed in an exposed spot, open to the sun, as if the beautiful bird was conscious of its right to protection, and knew it was under the guardianship of special laws that secured its safety. On this nest the pen (female) lays some five to eight eggs, of a dull greenish white, and about four inches in length j six weeks after which the cygnets, of a dark leaden grey, come into daylight ; the whole period of incubation being occupied by the cob (male) in acting sentinel, ready to attack any intruder, however formidable. The attachment of the mother to her brood is remarkable ; and no more beautiful picture is to be seen on the river than a female Swau superbly frowning, And with proud breast her own white shadow crowning, her neck gracefully arched, her wings raised as gunwales of protection, and the deck of this exquisitely modeled living craft crowded with her infant progeny, and stemming the rushing tide with her oar-like feet. The color of the cygnets becomes less gray by time, and when they put on their robe of snow, mamma, hitherto most maternal, drives them off, to do battle with the world on their own account. This they do ; and if they have not been pinioned, they motmt high in the air, and after a grand bird's-eye view of the eligibility of a new location, settle down on some distant piece of water, on which, if the aquatic resources of vegetables be good, and perch in plenty, they will, if not molested, remain for yeai-s. " The job of education" over, the parent birds are free to mate again with fresh acquaintances, or keep on by mutual agreement their old love, which, to the credit of swan conjugality, they often do. The swan is a long lived bird, many reaching thirty years. But Willuby says : "Itis a very long-lived fowl, .so that it is thought to attain the age of three hundred years j" " which/ says Aldrovandus, "to me seems not unlikely." Mr. Yarrell gives the swan fifty years' lease of life. One that lived and was murdered on the canal in St. James's Park known as <ir Old Jack/ reached seventy years. Jack was a great favorite with Queen Charlotte, he having been hatched in 1717, on the piece of water attached to old Buckingham House, and translated, after being partially reared and fed by royal hands, to the more extensive piece of water. He was very sociable, like many another biped, when ho had his own way, bivt became ca-ntankerous if put out. His strength and courage were astonishing. He has been known, when a portion of bun. has been thrown upon the water, and a dog, however large, has contested the morsel with him, to sieze the animal by the neck, and drown him ; and on one occasion, when a boy of twelve years of age had been teasing- him, Jack caught him by the leg of his trowsers, and dragged him into the water up to his knees. How long Jack would have lived, it is difficult to say. When the Ornithological Society selected the canal as a " playground" for their foreign specimens, Jack was pretty successful in his engagements with the intruders ; but a legion of Polish geese at length arrived, who commenced hostilities with Jack, and having cowardly attacked him in a body, pecked him to death. We have alluded to swans raising their nests in anticipation of floods. There are many well authenticated instances of this remarkable foresight. Here is one, the particulars of which were recorded from day to day as the events took place. There is a small stream above Bishop Stortford, a feeder of the Stortj a female swan of about eighteen years of age had reared many broods, and was become familiar to the neighbors, who valued her highly. Once, while she was sitting on four or five eggs, she was observed to be collecting weeds, grasses, and other materials to raise her nest. A farming man was ordered to take down half a load of haulm, with which she most industriously raised her nest two and a half feet. That very night there came down a tremendous fall of rain, which flooded all the malt shops, and did great damage* " Man made no preparation, the bird did ; instinct prevailed over reason, her eggs were above — and only just above — tne water.

A obeat truth is tersely expressed by an American journal thus : The rich farmers are those who raise grass and roots, and stock, or butter, and cheese, and make manure enoxigh to occasionally raise big crops of grain. The poor are those who depend on corn and wheat alone.