3 JANUARY 1941, Page 18

Swans

As if to supplement my remarks of last week, a magnificent flight of six swans has passed over while these notes were being written. One thing about them (apart from the fact, of course, that they were flying at all) was notable. Like good pilots, they appeared to be setting a course that allowed some degrees for the deflection of a strong north-east wind. A fully-grown male swan, by the way, weighs thirty pounds and has a wing-span of six feet. But one of the most remarkable things about a swan is revealed by Yarrall's illustration of the breastbone. The forward curve of the keel, the ribbing, the forked bone riding out like a figurehead are all uncannily like the bones of a