2 30 HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS 



specific name immutahilis. Instances, however, 

 have been recorded in which ordinary tame Swans 

 have been seen accompanied by white cygnets, 

 and others which were followed by cygnets some 

 white, the rest grey (Newton, ZooL, 1887, p. 463 : 

 1888, p. 470). Opinions still differ as to whether 

 the Polish Swan should be regarded as specifically 

 distinct from the Mute Swan or not. See the 

 letters of Messrs. Macpherson, Saunders, South- 

 well, and Bartlett in The Field of August 25 and 

 September 1, 1894. 



For an account of the famous Swannery at 

 Abbotsbury, see Mansel-Pleydell, "Birds of Dor- 

 setshire," 1888, p. 144, and for a notice of others 

 at Clarendon, Glastonbury, and Ely, see the article 

 Swan in the "Encyclopaedia of Sport," 1898. 



For a description of the famous "Swan-pit" at 

 Norwich, see Stevenson's "Birds of Norfolk," and 

 Southwell, Trans. Norf. Nat. Soc, vol. v. p. 265. 

 From this ancient institution the Governor of St. 

 Helen's Hospital supplies not only the tables of 

 the Mayor and Corporation of Norwich, but many 

 private owners in the neighbourhood, who consign 

 their cygnets to his care for the purpose of being 

 fattened. 



As to the reported strength of wing in the 

 Swan, and the fracture of a sportsman's arm by a 

 wild Swan, see ZooL, 1896, p. 356. 



