The male Swan is equally with the female attentive to the young brood, and watches them with a rare devotion. He carries them about on his back, takes them under his wings to warm them, and never abandons them while they are still young. It is a beautiful sight to see him gliding over the water at the head of his young flock, looking far ahead with an inquisitive eye, and prepared to sweep away any opposing obstacle; whilst the mother keeps some distance behind, ready to protect the rear. How much, too, are they to be admired as they sail majestically over the surface of some solitary lake! If you hide yourself behind the thick reeds so that they have no suspicion of your presence, you may see these noble birds bending their necks into the most graceful curves, plunging their heads into the water, catching it up in their bills, and scattering it behind them, the drops falling round their bodies in glittering rain; or when, beating the water with powerful wing, stirring up a foamy wave, you may behold them all on a sudden, they will briskly spring up and glide majestically over the surface of the water, cleaving it before them with their graceful bodies as the ploughman opens a furrow in the ground with his ploughshare. Sometimes, however, these elegant birds engage in terrible combats with one another, which often lead to the death of one of the contestants. The Domestic Swan, a more civilised and well-informed bird, does not push matters quite so far; but Wild Swans, which live in the regions of the North--in the lakes of Iceland and Lapland--hold sanguinary tournaments in honour of their fair ones. A combat between two Swans is a duel to the death, in which both adversaries display not only unequalled strength and fury, but also considerable skill and perseverance. The strife will sometimes last several days, and does not terminate until one of the foes has succeeded in twisting his neck round that of his enemy, and has been able to hold him down under water long enough to drown him. But let us turn from this warlike spectacle and admire the Swan at the moment when, impelled by the stimulus of love, it displays all the graces with which nature has endowed it. Their long and supple necks entwine with one another like garlands of snow, their plumage swells up with gentle undulations, and they display all the splendour of their beauty. The Swan is certainly conscious of its good looks and grace, for it is constantly busying itself either in cleansing or polishing its feathers. Besides, it unites the useful and the ornamental, by extirpating the weeds which stagnate at the bottom, and by thus transforming what would be a nasty pool into a clear sheet of water.