The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1890-03-29
AN ENGLISH sWANNERY.
A Curious Sight to BE Seen on the Marshy
Shore at AbbotsburY.


shore at Abbotsbury.
A very curious sight docs the marshy
shore at Abbotsbury present in tho
breeding season. Then the ground IS
dotted with nests, pair of swans to
each. one covering the eggs. the other
sitting or standing, a snow-white sentl-
mel beside his mate. The swans do not
breed until they are three years old;
they are strictly homogeneous, and tho
male bird takes his full share in tho in
cubation. The nests, FORMED of dry
reeds, are of great size, and are mado
upon grassy tussocks among the oslers,
the whole breeding ground, moist with
runnels of water, being 50 freely inter-
sected by narrow alleys of sound turf
that the visitor is enabled to inspect
them closely; nor does his approach dis
turb 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 considera-
BILE valor. They lay from five to eight
very large thick-shelled white eggs, and
the period of incubation - 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 eli
mate, however, suits them well, and at
Abbotsbury they have tlourished exceed
sni1y. The number there now is about
~ hit hundred; formerly more were kept,
as many as fifteen hundred; while further
back, again, tradition gives the number
as seven or eight thousand. In winter
time many sorts of wild birds put in APP
pearance, when the sooty plumage of in
Vulnerable coots forms a striking con-
trast with the snowy whitcness of the
swans. Some few years back a black
swan, that r0rG Gcis IN ferris, kept the
white ones company for while, but
none knew whence it came or whittier it
went. There are also hoopers, or wild
swans, smaller species.
Wild species are, perhaps, always
smaller than tame, though generally
moe beautiful; but this does not seem
to be the case with the swan, as NJ.
Baillon, Kings Counselor and bailiff of
Wa)en, at Montre uilsur-Mcr, remarks:
"The abundance and the choice of food
augmented the bulk of tho tame swan,
butts form has lost none of its ele-
gance; it has preserved the same graceS
and the same freedom in all its motions;
its majestic port is ever admired. |
doubt even whether 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 alg9 and
ther 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
ntive element are delightful. On land
heshas been coupled with the dis
mounted Dragon to illustrate the ex-
trme of awkwardness, and it must be
confessed that his gait is most ungainly;
but afioat he is superb. According to
! TINT keen observer and eminent natur-
alst, Button, the swan presents the
! fi1est natural model for the art of navi-
gation, Its raised neck and round
tss%e3ling breast exhibit the prov of a
ship cleaving the waves, its broad belly
represents the keel, its body, pressed
down before, rises behind into the
stern; the tail is a 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. "-Cornhill Magazine.