When two full-grown cobb swans quarrel they fight tremendously; and, though the common species is called the mute swan, they make a loud hissing noise something like that of the goose, but louder and hoarser. A cobb swan will also, when enraged, attack a dog, or even a man, striking tremendous blows with its wings. It is said that a full-grown swan could break a man's arm with a blow of its wing. Swans were formerly considered royal birds; and those upon the river Thames are still the property of the crown, and the young ones are marked every year under the superintendence of the Lord Mayor, the ceremony being called swan-hopping, which is said to be derived from swan-upping, a part of the ceremony being to decide how far up the river the swans have a right to go.
In hard frosts the swans, and all the other ornamental aquatic fowls, must be sheltered, and fed in the same way as the common ducks and geese in the poultry-yard; and there is generally some place contrived near the water for this purpose; as, for example, under the fishing-house, or adjoining the boat-house. It is also necessary to take some means of preventing aquatic fowls from flying away, and the barbarous operation of cutting off one joint of the wing with a penknife, or a very fine saw made from the spring of a watch, is frequently resorted to; it being the second joint of the wing that is taken off. For my own part, I should prefer losing my birds to resorting to such measures for their preservation; and I think I have understood, that, by depriving them of the alternate feathers of their wings, they may be rendered incapable of flying while they are strangers to the place, and I would trust to kind treatment to make them wish to stay with me when we became better acquainted.
The _black swan_ is a native of Australia, and it is so common in that country, that it gives its name to the Swan River. In a wild state, it is generally seen floating on lakes or rivers, in long lines formed by eight or ten or more swans swimming in a single file; and when alarmed they rise all together and fly off, uttering wild but not unmusical screams, retaining in the air the same position as that they occupied in the water. You must, however, take care, if you put a black swan on the some water with the white ones, that they do not injure it. Some years ago, two white swans on the water in the Regent's Park pursued a black one with the greatest ferocity; and, according to Mr. Yarrell, from whom I have taken this account, one of them having succeeded in grasping the black swan's neck between the mandibles of its beak, shook it violently. The black swan with difficulty extricated itself from this murderous grasp, hurried on shore, tottered from the water's edge a few paces, and then fell to die. The white swans did not attempt to pursue it, but continued sailing up and down the water with every feather on end, and seeming proud of their conquest.