98 THE BIRDS OF DEVONSHIRE. 



collections, that imposition is unlikely, and Dr. 

 Moore was too good a naturalist to misidentify so 

 remarkable a species. It is, however, to be desired 

 that information of the present whereabouts of these 

 valuable specimens should be forthcoming. 



MUTE SWA'N. -Cijf/nus olor (Gmel). 



An introduced species. That we are also visited 

 in winter by some genuine wild birds, is not 

 unlikely ; but it appears to be difficult to distinguish 

 between visitors ''Ferae naturae^'' and full-winged 

 stragglers from private waters. 



WHOOPER ^y^K^.—Cygnus musicus, Bechst. 



A RAEE VISITANT in severe weather. '' Wild Swans " 

 says Polwhele, " in flocks of sixty or seventy 



appear in hard winters During the frost, 



about sixteen years ago [i.e. about 1780), a Cygnet 

 was shot from Totnes bridge, but the flesh was by 

 no means a dainty. In the hard frost of 1788, a 

 Swan was shot above Staverton, the weight of 

 which was eighteen pounds and a half. In 1788-9 

 the river Exe, and the marshes of Ex minster, and 

 the banks of the Clyst were covered with Swans " 

 (History of Devonshire, p. 111). Dr. Moore writes 

 in 1837, that the Whooper is "rare but obtained in 

 hard winters. A specimen, shot on the Tamar, is 

 in the collection of J. Newton, Esq., at Bridestow, 

 near Okehampton. In the winter of 1830, several 



