ANATlD.^i. 405 



THE MUTE SWAN. 

 Cygnus ()lor (J. E. Gmelin). 



The Mute or Tame Swan is said to have been brought to England 

 from Cyprus by Richard I. ; but be this as it may, the species is 

 now generally distributed throughout the British Islands in a semi- 

 domesticated condition. Of late years it has even been introduced 

 in some of the Outer Hebrides, where it breeds annually, and the 

 birds fly about as if wild (Harvie-Brown). There is a celebrated 

 ancient swannery at Abbotsbury, near Weymouth in Dorsetshire ; 

 large numbers inhabit the streams and broads of Norfolk ; and the 

 presence of this handsome bird on the Thames and other rivers 

 must be familiar to every one. 



The individuals which are occasionally shot during winter in 

 Britain are often assumed to be some of our birds which have 

 strayed from their usual haunts ; but such is not necessarily the 

 case, for the Mute Swan still breeds in a perfectly wild state at no 

 greater distance than Denmark and the south of Sweden, whence it 

 is forced by cold to migrate in winter ; while in a free as well as in a 

 half-protected condition it is found in many parts of Germany. 

 Thoroughly wild birds nest in considerable numbers in Central and 

 Southern Russia, and on the Lower Danube; also, sparingly, on 



