86 BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 



their care. Sometimes, however, the too close vicinity 

 of the fowl has caused the death of a swan, some reck- 

 less sportsman bagging more than he intended. 



Swans have been said to live to a very advanced age, 

 but I have failed to obtain any confirmation from 

 local authorities of the centenarian instances recorded 

 by some authors.^ A tradition certainly exists in these 

 parts to the effect that a swan which formerly frequented 

 the Lakenham river was not less than one hundred 

 years old, but from thirty to forty years is the most 

 that I can arrive at from the experience of the oldest 

 swanherds living, or from the " hearsay " evidence of 

 their predecessors. The oldest birds at the present time 

 on the Yare are not more than from ten to fourteen years 

 old, but a female was recently removed from the Yare, 

 which had nested regularly for some twenty seasons. 

 No doubt on private ponds or lakes, where they are kept 

 more for ornament than profit, some birds may be 

 found which are known to be of great age, but on the 

 Yare the experience of the past few years has proved 

 that comparatively young birds and the introduction of 

 fresh blood now and then is most conducive to a large 

 head of cygnets. 



The term "mute," as applied to this swan, is scarcely 

 appropriate, since, though wa.nting the sonorous note 

 of the wild swan, it has various utterances, including 

 the hiss of anger and defiance, uttered with the bill 

 open, a strange yapping noise like the bark of a small 

 dog when endeavouring to draw the cygnets from the 



^ Mr. Broderip in his "Zoological Eecreations" quotes, at length, 

 from the " Morning Post" of July 9th, 1840, an account of the death 

 (accidentally), at the age of seventy years, of a venerable swan, 

 known as " Old Jack," on the waters of St. James's Park. This 

 bird is said to have been hatched about the year 1770, on the water 

 attached to Old Buckingham House, and to have been a favourite 

 with Queen Charlotte in its earlier days. 



