2 28 HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS 



wild state in Southern Sweden and Denmark. It 

 has long been known to breed on the Danube, where, 

 according to the Crown Prince Rudolf, some nest 

 every year in a large swamp above Melkovic. Mr. 

 F. C. Selous found the Mute Swan breeding in a 

 wild state in Asia Minor, in a great marsh near 

 Sakizbounou, a Turkish village on the Menander 

 river {Ihis, 1900, p. 417). 



This bird has been domesticated for so many 

 centuries in England that the precise date of its 

 introduction is unknown. Anciently proclaimed a 

 royal bird, it was ordained that when at liberty in a 

 public river or creek, no subject could claim owner- 

 ship in a Swan except by grant from the Crown. 

 The privilege of keeping Swans seems to have ex- 

 tended as far back at least as 1483, as appears by laws 

 and orders made in that year and in 1496. In creating 

 this privilege, the Crown granted " Swan-marks " 

 (cygni notw), notches or nicks on the bill to denote 

 ownership ; and the books or rolls of Swan-marks 

 that have come down to us are amongst the most 

 curious relics of the past. The names cob and pe?^, 

 applied to the male and female Swan respectively, 

 are traceable to those ancient " Laws and Orders for 

 Swans " in which the sexes are invariably so desig- 

 nated {Zool., 1895, p. 372). Those privileged at 

 the present time to keep Swans on a public river 

 (sc. on the Thames) are Her Majesty the Queen, the 

 Vintners' Company, and the Dyers' Company, and 

 the old custom of marking the birds [Swan-upping) 

 as soon as the young broods are sufficiently well 



