152 HOOPER. 
sake of the down and feathers, so very valuable in an Arctic 
climate. They are ridden and run down with horses and dogs 
in the autumn, when, being moulting, they are not so well 
able to fly. 
The following account, given in the ‘Zoologist, volume vi., 
pages 2024-5-6, by Miss Ellen Webley Parry, shews how even 
a bird, whose very name means wild or savage, may be tamed 
vs the most perfect manner by kindness:—‘The winter of 
1829-80 was remarkably severe, and especially so for South 
Wales, where the climate is generally mild and humid. There 
had been numerous flocks of Wild Geese and other northern 
birds, including the Hooper, or Wild Swan, on the River Tivy 
and its tributary streams. A pair of these birds were shot 
and secured by the Rev. Samuel B. Shireff, of Stradmoor, 
Cardiganshire, whose residence was on the banks of that river. 
The male bird was merely wounded in the pinion, the female 
unfortunately too severely so to survive. Mr. Shireff presented 
the other to my father, the late Rear-Admiral Webley Parry, 
of Noyadd Trefann, in the same county, in the hope that he 
might be sufficiently tamed to put on a piece of ornamental 
water near the house. 
The extreme wildness and fierceness of this bird, if ap- 
proached, was remarkable, flying at every person who came 
near his domicile. We placed him in a small yard, with an 
open shed for him to retire to. It was many days before we 
could induce him to eat anything; as we were quite ignorant 
of his natural food we feared he would be starved to death, 
but fortunately he began to eat sea-biscuit soaked in water, 
which he continued to live upon for some months. After being 
kept in this place for more than two months, and being, as 
we thought, tolerably tame, we put him on the piece of water 
before named; but no sooner was he on his native element, 
than all his natural wildness seemed to return; he made his 
way down to a stream which ran into the Tivy, on which 
river he was caught, making his way towards the sea, and 
brought back again. 
Shortly after this, an accident happening to the embankment, 
the piece of water became dry, and ‘Dan,’ as he was called, 
was brought up to the house, and had to content himself 
in the circumscribed limits of the stable and poultry yards, 
together with the farm-yard. pond. From the number of 
people constantly passing and repassing there, and his long 
sojourn, he became excessively tame, went to bed with the 
