a considerable distance, or pushing them before him in heaps towards the selected locality. The nest,

when completed, is a very large but inartistically constructed pile, composed of all sorts of water plants, confusedly heaped together, but surmounted with a finer covering of sedge grass and other softer materials. The place chosen for the situation of the nest is generally some small island, and its size such that it would float even with the weight of its occupants upon it. In this capacious cradle the female Swan lays from six to eight thick-shelled eggs, of a dirty white, or dirty pale green colour, from which, after the lapse of five or six weeks, the young brood make their escape. When first hatched the Cygnets are pretty little creatures, warmly clad in a thick covering of down; after having remained in the nest for a day or so, they venture out and trust themselves upon the water. Sometimes the mother carries them upon her back, sometimes takes them beneath the shelter of her wings, and always watches over them with the greatest tenderness and anxiety, until they are able to take care of themselves. No sooner, however, are they completely fledged, than they finally separate themselves from their parents, never to see them again; for should they next year make their appearance in the same locality, they would at once be driven away, and treated as any other intruders. The food of the Swans is very diversified, consisting of such vegetables of various kinds as grow in ponds and marshes, roots, leaves, and seeds, beetles and their larvæ, worms, snails, tadpoles, and fishes; anything, in short, that affords nourishment. They are not so strictly vegetable feeders as the Geese, neither are they so carnivorous as the Ducks, but in this respect they seem to occupy a middle position between the two. Their food is principally obtained at the bottom of the pond, which, owing to the length of their necks, they are able to reach, even in water of considerable depth; and here they gather aquatic plants, or, straining the mud through their sieve-like jaws, extract such nutriment as it affords.

As the Wild Swans, owing to their great size and strength, are well able to defend themselves against ordinary assailants, they have few enemies to fear, with the exception of the larger Eagles and of the arch-destroyer, man himself, who wages constant war against them, partly on account of their flesh, which affords excellent food, and partly for their feathers and down, the latter of which in particular is extremely valuable. The chase after these birds, however, requires considerable skill and perseverance, owing to their extreme watchfulness and the rapidity of their flight. In the north they are generally pursued in a boat whilst they are swimming in the water; the sportsman taking advantage of a high wind, and then steering with all sail directly towards them, in this manner he is sometimes able to approach them so closely as to get them within range of his gun, more especially as they always prefer to fly right against the wind. In Algeria, as Buvry informs us, they are taken in the same manner as the Flamingoes, by wading towards them under cover of floating herbage, or they are often captured on the shores of sheltered bays by means of hooks, and lines of camel's hair, baited with bread, flesh, or fish. When the bird has swallowed the bait, says Buvry, it must perforce remain quiet until the hunter comes to rescue it from its unpleasant position.

THE MUTE SWAN.

The Mute Swan (Cygnus olor), the species so frequently seen in this country living upon our ornamental water in a state of semi-domestication, and sometimes described by writers as the "Tame Swan" (Cygnus mansuetus) is, in its wild state, an inhabitant of Northern Europe and Northern Asia, more especially of Eastern Siberia, and is easily recognisable by the callous protuberance at the base of its bill. Its body is elongate, its neck extremely long and slender, and its bill, which is nearly of the same length as the head, of a red colour, surmounted at its base with the black knob-like protuberance above alluded to. The plumage of the adult is white, that of the young grey, or occasionally white. The eye is brown, the beak red, while the bridles and protuberance at the base