Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1890-04-05
AN ENGLISH SWANERY.
How the beautiful Birds Are Bred and
Reared at AbbOtsbury.


Reared at AbbOtsbury.
a very curious sight does the marshy shore
at Abotsbury present in the breeding season.
Then the ground is dotted with nests, pair
of swans to each, one covering the eggs, the
other sitting or standing, snow white senti-
mel beside his mate The swans do not breed
until they are 3 years old; they are strictly
homogeneous, and the male bird takes his
full share in the incubation. The nests,
formed of dry reeds, are of great size aud
are made upon grassy tussocks among the
osiers, the whole breeding ground, moist with
runnels of the water, being SO freely inter-
sected by narrow alleys of sound turf that
the visitor is enabled to inspect them closely;
nor does his approach disturb the equanimity
of the birds, though, if molested during the
breeding season, or while the brood is young,
the swan is bird that will defend himself,
and still more his offspring, with considerable
vaior. They lay from five to eight very
large thick shelled white eggs, and the period
of incubation is six weeks
The swan is not indigenous to the British
isles, but is supposed to have been introduced
from Eastern Europe or Asia many centuries
back. Our climate, however, suits them
well, and at Abbotsbury they have fourished
exceedingly. The number there now is about
800; formerly more were kept, as many as
1900; while further back, again, tradition
gives the number as Z, 900 or 5000. In winter
time many sorts Of wild birds put in an APP
pearance, when the sooty plumage of innu-
merable coots forms striking contrast with
the snowy whiteness of the swans. Some
years back black swan, that rara avis in
terris, kept the white ones company for
whittier it went. There are also hoppers, or
wild swans, a smaller species
Wild species are, perhaps, always smaller
than tame though generally more beautiful;
but this does not seem to be the case with the
swan, as M. Baillon, kings counselor and
bailiff of Waben, at Montreuilsur- Mer, re-
marks: 1.-THE abundance and the choice Of
food augmented the bulk of the tame swan,
but its form has lost none of its elegance; it
has preserved the same graces and the same
freedom in all its motions; its majestic port
is ever admired l doubt whether even all
these qualities are found to equal extent in
the wild bird" At Abbotsbury, however,
the swans are not fed; they find ample pro-
vision for themselves in the alg@ and other
marsh plants which grow on the banks of the
Fleet.
The grace and power with which the swan
moves In what we may call his native ele-
ment are delightful. On land he has been
coupled with the dismounted dragon to illus
trate the extreme of awkwardness, and it
must be confessed that his gait is more I'M
calmly; but afloat he is superb. According
to that keen observer and eminent natural
ist Button, the swan presents the finest nat
ural model for the art of navigation. ''Its
raised neck and round swelling breast exhibit
the prov of ship cleaving the waves; its
broad belly represents the keel; its body,
pressed down before, rises behind into the
stern. The tail is genuine rudder. Its feet
are broad oars, and its wings, half opened to
the wind and gently inflated, are the sails
which impel the animated machine. Corn
hill Magazine