SWANS
Naturalists divide swans into a number of different species. Whether
this division is correct is not known. The habits of swans, and the
circumstances under which they are usually kept, tend to prevent the
mingling of different kinds. As far as the author has been able to
learn, there is no evidence which shows conclusively the relations of
any of the supposed different species. The differences between them are
in some cases very slight. Some of the decisions of the naturalists who
have classified slightly different kinds as distinct species are based
upon examinations of very small numbers of specimens. Considering the
apparent resemblances of the different kinds of swans in the light of
what is known of species and varieties in fowls, ducks, geese, and
pheasants, it seems probable that the true species of swans are fewer in
number than the common classification shows, and it also seems quite
possible that all swans are of the same species.
=Description.= The common swan, called the domestic swan, is about the
size of the largest domestic geese, but appears larger because it has a
longer neck and head and larger wings. The body is also somewhat longer
than that of a goose of about the same weight, and the swan is a much
more graceful bird than a large goose. It is sometimes called the Mute
Swan, to distinguish it from the Whistling Swan, which is a very similar
kind not bred in domestication. There are other slight differences
between the Mute Swans and the Whistling Swans, but the difference in
the voice, if it really is as great as is supposed, is the only one of
much consequence in deciding their relations. The Mute Swan is not
dumb. It sometimes makes a low, whistling sound. People are not agreed
as to whether there is any real foundation for the familiar tradition
that the Mute Swan remains silent until about to die, and then sings a
"song." Some people acquainted with the habits of swans declare that the
swan is more vocal when dying than at any other time in its life. Others
say that the idea probably arose as a result of some one's hearing a
dying swan moaning in pain, as sick animals and birds often do, and
concluding that it was uttering a series of sounds characteristic of
swans in a dying condition. However that may be, the Mute Swan is
distinctly less noisy than the wild Whistling Swan.
Until 1697 all swans known to civilized people were white, and the swan
was an emblem of purity of color. In that year a Dutch navigator
visiting Australia found there a black swan. Afterwards a white swan
with a black neck was discovered in South America. Had the subject of
heredity been well understood before the discovery of these two swans
that were not white, people familiar with the white swans would have
known that there were colored swans in some unexplored country (or that
they had existed in the known world in a former age), for white swans
are not perfectly white at maturity, and when young they are gray.
Neither is the black swan all black. It has white flight feathers, and
its black color is a rusty black, that is, a black mixed with red.
Swans are very long-lived birds, but stories of swans living to seventy
or eighty years of age are not to be credited. It cannot be affirmed
that the birds may not live as long as that, but the evidence in the
cases reported is defective. The reports of swans living for fifty years
are quite credible. The male and female swan are not readily
distinguished, for there are no external indications of sex, and the
birds use their voices so rarely that, even if there is a difference in
the notes of the male and female, it is not practical to use it to
distinguish between them. The only way to identify the sex with
certainty is by observing the birds at nesting time.
The name "swan" is Anglo-Saxon. Nothing is known of its derivation. The
terms "cock" and "hen" are sometimes applied to swans as they are to
many other kinds of birds. The swanherds in England call the male a
_cob_ and the female a _pen_. The young swan is called a _cygnet_, from
the French word for "swan."
[Illustration: Fig. 176. Swan and nest]
=Origin and history in domestication.= Tradition says that the domestic
swan was brought to England from France by Richard the Lion-hearted. As
the swan is a migratory bird, still sometimes seen in many parts of the
Eastern Hemisphere north of the equator, it is possible that swans were
known in England long before the reign of this king. However that may
be, it is certain that, from about the time of the Norman Conquest, the
swan has occupied a peculiar position in England. It was regarded as a
royal bird, and the privilege of owning swans was granted only to those
in high station. At first the number of those who were permitted to own
swans was very small, but it was afterward extended until, in the reign
of Queen Elizabeth, more than nine hundred different swanmarks were
registered by the royal swanherd, who had general oversight of all the
swans in the kingdom. The swans were marked by branding or cutting the
bill, this being necessary because they lived largely on the margins of
uninclosed waters, just as in some of our Western states cattle live on
unfenced lands. The right to own swans carried with it the right to keep
them in such a place.
=Place in domestication.= Although it has been bred in captivity for
centuries, the swan is not fully domesticated. It does not, like the
duck and the goose, so increase in size and weight when kept under the
control of man that it becomes incapable of flight, but, like the
American Wild Goose in captivity, it is prevented from flying by
removing the first joint of one wing, the operation being performed as
soon as possible after the young birds are hatched. The swan lives more
on the water than either the duck or the goose. It subsists largely upon
coarse aquatic grasses and plants, and is said to eat all kinds of
decaying matter found in the water.
In England in old times the swan was used as food by the wealthy, but
its use for this purpose ceased long ago. It is now kept almost
exclusively for ornament. Most of the swans in America are kept in
public parks or on large private estates. Very few are reared here; the
supply is kept up largely by importations from England. The swan is not
popular, because the birds are costly and are not prolific. Still the
breeding of swans for ornamental purposes or for sale to exhibitors
might be carried on with profit upon many farms. Under suitable
conditions, swans may, at the same time, perform valuable service and
make a valuable product. By consuming the kinds of food which they
prefer, they clean ponds and keep sluggish streams open. Being so large
and strong, and requiring so much coarse food, they are a great deal
more serviceable in this way than are ducks and geese.
=Management.= When swans were abundant in England, they were kept mostly
upon certain rivers and inlets of the sea where natural food was
abundant. The climate of England is so mild that they can there obtain
food in such places at all seasons. The colder parts of America do not
afford conditions favorable to swan culture. Where the winters are long
and severe, and streams and ponds are frozen over for months, wintering
swans would be troublesome and expensive, but where the waters are open
throughout the year, a farmer who had a suitable place for them might
breed swans with profit. A pair of swans would cost about the same as a
good cow, and might make about the same net profit. But there would be
this difference: the cow would require a great deal of care, the swans
very little; the cow would eat salable food, the swans mostly waste
food. By this comparison it is not meant to suggest that a farmer might
profitably replace his cows with swans. The object is simply to show how
the possible profit from small specialities compares with the usual
profit from a regular feature of farming.
The methods of managing swans are much like the methods of managing wild
geese in captivity. The principal difference is that the swans must have
a larger body of water, and one in which vegetation is abundant. They
are not as fond of land grasses as geese are, and like to float on the
surface of the water, feeding on the vegetation at the bottom. Their
long necks enable them to do this in water several feet deep. They need
no shelter but a small hut, which they will use only in rare
emergencies. After they have settled down in a spot, there should be no
need of building fences to restrain them. As they are not able to fly,
they will remain quite near their home unless food supplies there are
very short. In that case extra food should be given them. Even when
natural food is abundant, it is a good plan to feed swans a little of
something else occasionally, to attach them to the person who has charge
of them. As every one knows who has seen the swans in parks, where
visitors amuse themselves by feeding them, swans are very fond of bread.
They will eat grain also, although, when not accustomed to it, they may
at first refuse it. Their food is usually given either by throwing it on
the water or by placing it in troughs from which the birds can eat while
floating upon the water.
[Illustration: Fig. 177. Feeding swans on the water]
[Illustration: Fig. 178. View of an English swannery]
The female builds near the water a nest of coarse stalks and small
sticks. Sometimes this is reared to a height of several feet, and
material added around the sides, little by little, during the whole
period of incubation. Swans have been known to pile up nearly half a
cord of material for their nest. From five to ten eggs are laid in the
nest. The period of incubation is six weeks. As far as possible,
interference with the birds should be avoided during the breeding season
and while the young are small. When it is necessary to handle them in
any way, the attendant should have at the start all the assistance he
is likely to require. A blow from a swan's wing may injure a man very
seriously. It is said that such a blow has been known to break a man's
thigh.
The young are gray when hatched and do not become entirely white until
two years old. Even then many of them are not absolutely white, but show
very distinct traces of reddish-yellow, especially on the head and upper
part of the neck. There is a story that a young swan of a deep buff
color was hatched at Lewes in England.
If the swans with young must be fed, the usual practice is to throw the
food upon the water. Stale bread, grain, and even meal are given in this
way. It looks like a wasteful way of feeding, but the birds will get all
the food.
Swanneries are unknown in America. In England a few of those established
many centuries ago still remain. The largest and most celebrated of
these is at Abbotsbury. Swans have been bred here continuously for about
eight hundred years.