About the month of August these birds change their feathers, during which, in some countries, they are killed with clubs or hunted by dogs. Their _flesh_ is esteemed a wholesome and palatable food, and the _eggs_ are considered peculiarly delicious. Of the _skins_, which are used in England, with the down upon them, for muffs, tippets, and powder-puffs, the inhabitants of Iceland and Kamtschatka make garments of different kinds. The North American Indians sometimes weave the down into ornamental dresses; and form the large feathers into caps and plumes to decorate the heads of their warriors. 182. _The TAME Swan_ (Anas olor, Fig. 47), _the largest of all British birds, is distinguished from the wild swan (181) by its larger size, and by the cere or naked skin at the base of the bill being black and not yellow._ _It is an inhabitant both of Europe and Asia._ So highly were these beautiful and stately birds esteemed by our ancestors that, by an act of Edward the Fourth, no person who possessed a freehold of less yearly value than five marks was permitted to keep them. At this day the stealing of swans is considered a felonious act; and there is a penalty for stealing the eggs, of twenty shillings each. Swans were formerly served up at almost every great feast. At Archbishop Neville's feast in the reign of Edward the Fourth, there were no fewer than 400 of these birds. At present, the _cygnets_, or young swans, only are eaten. Considerable numbers of these are annually fattened near Norwich, about Christmas, and chiefly for the table of the corporation of that city. The nest of the swan is formed, about the month of February, of grass, and generally among reeds near the water. The eggs are six or eight in number, of large size and white colour. 183. _The WILD GOOSE_ (Anas anser) _is distinguished by having a somewhat cylindrical bill, the body ash-coloured above and paler beneath, and the neck striate._ _Large flocks of wild geese frequent all the fenny districts of England, and are also found in the northern parts of the continents of Europe, Asia, and America._ These birds are killed on account of their _flesh_ which is an excellent and nutritive food; and they are the stock from which our common or _tame geese_ have been obtained.