. 133 



numerous injuries they receive are regularl}^ doctored, 

 or if they are too severe for that, the bird is 

 destroyed. In winter it is not always easy to keep 

 them alive, although they are taken in and housed in 

 pigstyes and other edifices where they can be 

 sheltered from the cold. The punishment for killing 

 a Thames swan is a severe one, though it is rather 

 difficult to trace the offenders. The maximum 

 penalty is a fine of £5, and in past times, no doubt, it 

 was much heavier than that. It is interesting to note 

 that the swan is the only domesticated bird which can 

 legally inhabit the Thames except by special per- 

 mission, though the law against the putting of other 

 kinds, such as the harmless, necessary duck is, of 

 course, practically a dead letter. Altogether it will be 

 seen that the expense of swan-keeping is no light one. 



The longevity of the Swan is remarkable, its 

 average life being fifty years, which period is occa- 

 sionally extended to as much as eighty or even 

 ninety years. In spite of this the numbers do not 

 increase appreciably, partly owing to the venturesome- 

 ness of the bird, which, as already alluded to, results 

 in a considerable thinning-out. Another cause is 

 found in the fact that thirty of the King's Cygnets 

 each Christmas come to an untimely end not wholly 

 unconnected with epicurean feasts in the halls of some 

 of the highest in the land — which latter fact is, no 

 doubt, some consolation. Others, richly prepared by 

 the art of the chef, go to grace the banquetting boards 

 of the Vintners' and Dyers' Companies every year — 

 their funeral rites being witnessed by their quondam 

 guardian angels, the Swan-Masters, who, in their 



