CIGNUS. The Swan is a large water Fowl, that has a long and very straight Neck; it is very white, excepting when it is young. Its Legs, Feet and Bill are black; its Bill is very like that of a Goose, but something rounder, and a little hooked at the lower end of it; the two sides below its Eyes are black and shining like Ebony. This Bird stretches its Wings like Sails, that the wind may drive it along, when it is in the water. It feeds upon herbs, and some sort of grain like a Goose. It is very long lived, and some there have been which are said to have lived three hundred years. There is a sort of Swan, the right foot whereof is like the talons of a Bird of prey; this it makes use of in catching Fish by diving for them; but its left foot is like that of a Goose, and is of use only in swimming. There is besides another species, which has all the feathers of its head towards the breast marked at the ends with yellow points like Gold, inclining to red1; and in all probability this is the species of Swans which Horace2 calls purpurei, and by which he represents the Chariot of Venus to be drawn. The Swan was consecrated to Apollo as to the God of Musick, because it was thought to sing melodiously3 when it was near expiring. The Latin Text of Scripture speaks no where of the Swan, but in the enumeration of the Birds which were forbidden to be eat.
Lev. xi. 18. 70תנשמת .Πορφυ -ρίωνα.Moses reckons the Swan among the unclean creatures; at least S. Jerom thus translates the Hebrew Tanschemeth, whereby by the Septuagint understood the Porphyrio to be meant, which is a Bird, the bill whereof and legs are red like Porphyry. Onkelos the Samaritan Translator, and Bochart, explain it by the Owl. We have offered some conjectures on Isaiah, xiii. 21. to shew, that the Hebrew, Bath-janah was the Swan. This Bird loves the water; it is very cruel; it is celebrated for its mournful way of singing, and the shrill cries which it sometimes sends forth with so much force, and for so long a time, as to kill itself4: Which has given room for the observation made by many, of its singing, when it is upon the point of expiring.
Lev. xi. 16. Deut. xiv. 16.Sic ubi fata vocant udis abjectus in herbis
Ad vada Mæandri concinit albus olor.
Moses ranks the young of the Haiana, which is generally translated Ostridge, among the unclean Animals.
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Footnotes
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See the word Cygnus in the Dictionary of Trevoux. ↩
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Hor. Carm. l. iv. Od. 1. Purpureis ales oloribus. ↩
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Translators’ note. The sweetness of its singing is a Tradition generally received, but fabulous, Geese making as much melody as these creatures. But from this opinion the Poets have assumed the Title of Swans. Horace would be thought to be metamorphosed into one. l. ii. Od. 20. Jam, jam residunt cruribus asperæ Pelles & album mutor in alitem Superne, nascunturq; leves Per digitos humerosq; plumæ. ↩
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Ælian l. v. c. 34. ↩