POLISH SWAN. Ill 



to Norfolk, " as it contains the mark of Carrow Abbey, 

 dissolved in 1537, and of otlier religious houses." This 

 swan-mark also appears in Mr. Blofeld's roll, as ^^ Mr. 

 Gurney, Barsham;" and in the ancient rolls in the 

 British Museum, before referred to, the same mark, 

 twice figured, is assigned to William Grurney (written 

 Gournay in one instance), no doubt the same Mr. 

 Gurney, of West Barsham, who had a residence, I am 

 informed, adjoining the river at Pockthorpe, Norwich, 

 and whose will is dated 1507. 



CYGNUS IMMUTABILIS, Yarrell. 



POLISH SWAN. 



Since the so-called Polish Swan was distinguished by 

 Yarrell in 1838,"^ from the mute swan fCygnus olorj under 

 the specific appellation of immutabilis or changeless, — 

 the cygnets, as well as the old birds being described 

 as pure white, — several specimens have, from time to 

 time, been procured in Norfolk, and of these, most of 



Lombe, of Great Melton, for the opportunity of inspecting two 

 ancient rolls of Norfolk swan-marks, containing those of the Melton 

 and Bylaugh estates, veiy similar in character to Mr. Blofeld's. 

 One of these has a crown printed above the first swan's head, indi- 

 cating, no doubt, the direct grant from the crown of such marks, 

 and of which the King's swanherd was bound to keep a list. In 

 this roll all the marks given in Mr. Blofeld's appear in almost the 

 same order of succession, but with the addition of forty-six others. 

 The other Melton roll commences with the date 1674, and has a 

 memorandum at the foot, to the effect that it was given to the 

 individual whose name is signed (now illegible) in the year 1751. 

 but this I imagine, from the writing, is of more recent date than 

 that first mentioned. 



* "Proceedings of Zoological Society," 1838, p. 19; and "Annals 

 Nat. Hist." for 1839, vol. ii., p. 155. 



