Handsome aquatic birds, Pied swans (Q."Tetalquar" S."Eilph Taithin") may have been the most intelligent of herbivorous avians. They seemed able to remember those who had harmed or helped them (at least for periods of several weeks), and there had been reports of pied swans leading fog-lost travellers to high ground in marshes. Various rural and primitive peoples, such as the Marshmen of the Nindalf, revered these birds as being sacred to the Vala Yavanna. They were creamy white in color, liberally splotched and speckled with black and gray. Unfortunately, their flesh was tasty and their feathers soft, so that those with more greed than reverence hunted them. Pied swans were most commonly found in the Nindalf and along the shores of the Anduin in the relatively unspoiled areas of Ithilien.
References[]
- Retrieved from [Realms of Arda]; original reference: [ICE MERP 2012]