. The sportsman's British bird book . - j^erch and build in trees, thegreat majority make their nests as a rule near the waters edge, employ-ing rushes or grass in their construction, and lining them with downjilucked from the breast of the female, and also using this material as apacking for the eggs. The latter are numerous and uniformly coloured ;their tint varying from white through cream-colour and buff to palesea-green, but their shape being alwaj^s oval or ellijitical. On emergingfrom the shell, the \-oung are fully clothed with down, and are at once. \VH(X)IKK SWAN. WHOOPER SWAN 267 ab
. The sportsman's British bird book . - j^erch and build in trees, thegreat majority make their nests as a rule near the waters edge, employ-ing rushes or grass in their construction, and lining them with downjilucked from the breast of the female, and also using this material as apacking for the eggs. The latter are numerous and uniformly coloured ;their tint varying from white through cream-colour and buff to palesea-green, but their shape being alwaj^s oval or ellijitical. On emergingfrom the shell, the \-oung are fully clothed with down, and are at once. \VH(X)IKK SWAN. WHOOPER SWAN 267 able both to run and to swim. In at least the great majorit} of speciesall the quill-feathers of the wings are moulted at once, so that for sometime the birds are quite unable to fly, and are therefore absolutely atthe mercy of their enemies, unless they can escape by effectually con-cealing themselves. There is considerable difference in regard to thecharacters of the plumage, the two sexes in the swans and geese beingalike in this respect throughout the year, whereas in most ducks thedrake is very dissimilar in colouring to his partner for the greater partof the year. Swans constitute a special subfamily—the Cygnina;—of the familyAnatidce, characterised by the large size of its members, the greatlength of the neck, which is as long as or longer than the body, andcontains a greater number of joints, or vertebrae (23 to 25), than inany of the other three subfamilies, in which there are less than sexes are also ahke in plumage, and the hi
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Keywords: ., bookauthorlydekkerrichard184919, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900
