66 BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 



swan whilst her cygnets are small, and she will sink 

 herself low in the water that they may mount more 

 easily. Whether at the same time she gives them a 

 *' leg up " by raising them on the broad webs of her 

 own feet I cannot say positively, but this is not im- 

 probable, since a favourite action in swans is that of 

 swimming with one foot resting upon the lower part 

 of the back, the sole of the foot being uppermost. With 

 reference also to this means of transporting the young 

 from one spot to another, a curious fact has recently 

 come to my knowledge, which marks as well the attach- 

 ment of these birds to their accustomed nesting places. 

 An old hen swan, one of Rich's protegees, which in 

 autumn and winter frequents the Tare, between Thoi^^e 

 and Whitlingham, regularly as the spring comes round 

 makes her appearance, with her mate, on Surlingham 

 Broad — a distance (allowing for the windings of the 

 stream) of nearly six miles — and proceeds at once to 

 collect materials for her nest in that locality. Shortly", 

 however, after the young are hatched this same pair, 

 the female with her little progeny on her back, may 

 be seen passing from the broad into the river, where, 

 turning their heads up stream with an evidently settled 

 purpose in view, they commence the return journey to 

 Thorpe; and from observations made by ferry keepers 

 and others, to whom this habit is known, it is believed 

 the whole route is accomplished without stopping to 

 feed by the way. Two other pairs that regularly nest 

 on the same broad return with their young during the 

 summer to their winter quarters at Bramerton, some 

 three miles up the river ; and on one occasion a female 

 which had been conveyed to Surlingham in the sprmg, 

 and paired on the broad, returned with her cygnets to 

 a spot near the Clarence Harbour Inn, at Carrow, dis- 

 tant about seven miles, where she had by chance been 

 turned off in the previous winter. 



