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capacity as Barge - Masters, attend these feasts in 

 quaint and resplendent uniforms. 



There are many species of swans, but those 

 placed in the Thames and elsewhere for ornamental 

 purposes, belong (with the exception of the Black 

 Swan) exclusively to one, which is denominated the 

 "Mute Swan." The birds of this species are un- 

 questionably the most handsome and, so to speak, 

 " swanlike" of all. They derive their name from the 

 fact that in the domesticated state they do not vent 

 their emotions noisily, except so far as occasional 

 low sibilant guttural sounds go. In the wild state, 

 however, it is said, they make a curious trumpeting 

 sound similar to that of another species known as the 

 " whooper " or whistling swan. Possibly Tennyson 

 had this in mind when he wrote that weird poem 

 "The Dying Swan," whose 



" . , awful jubilant voice, 

 With a music strange and manifold. 

 Floated forth on a carol free and bold 

 As wlien a mighty people rejoices." 



Another much -admired member of the swan- 

 tribe is the Australian Black Swan with its glossy 

 feathers and bright red beak. The Vintners' Compau}^ 

 own the only specimens on the Thames, at Goring, 

 where a colony, the numbers of which are kept 

 strictly to thirty, is placed. These birds, though good- 

 looking, are both vain and vicious, and will have 

 nothing whatever to do with their white neighbours. 

 The much-maligned English climate would seem to 

 have affected their temper, for the\' feel the cold in- 

 tensely. The first pair brought over in comparatively 

 recent times quickly perished, and great care has to be 



