60 BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 



limited amount of weeds, under sucli circumstances, 

 necessitates a liberal supply of corn as well, and it is 

 under these conditions only, wlien answering to the 

 call of the keeper, that this noble species can be 

 termed, appropriately, the tame or domestic swan. On 

 the other hand it would be difficult indeed to find local- 

 ities so adapted to its natural habits as are presented 

 in the sluggish winding course of our Norfolk rivers, 

 with their shoally margins, sheltering islets, and deep 

 sedgy "rands,"* since, as has been well remarked by 

 Mr. Dixon, " a yard of margin is worth a mile of deep 

 stream ; one muddy Norfolk Broad, with its oozy banks, 

 labyrinthine creeks, and its forests of rushes, reeds, and 

 sedges is better, in this respect, than all 'the blue 

 rushing of the arrowy Rhone,' or ' the whole azure 

 expanse of the brilliant Lake of Geneva.' " Wibh the 

 rivers and broads, also, must be mentioned those wide 

 connecting " dykes " through which the tidal current 

 ebbs and flows and the many narrower channels that 

 form, as well, the drainage of the marshes; for these 

 are a favourite resort of our river swans at all 

 seasons, where, free from the constant traffic of the 

 main stream, the weed-choked waters afford an inex- 

 haustible supply of food ; well stocked as they are with 

 moUusca, aquatic insects, the roots of marshy plants, 

 fish spawn, and innumerable small fry ; if the two last 

 named really constitute a portion of their diet.f 



Though on the western side of the county, the 

 Great and Little Ouze, the Nar, and the Thet, with the 



* This term is applied in Norfolk to the margin between the 

 wall or bank of a river and the water ; a space usually overgrown 

 with reeds or water-plants. Pronounced rand or rond. 



t Mr. Dixon, on one occasion, observed his swans greedily 

 devouring some dead shrimps, which had by chance been thrown 

 into the water. 



