198 THE BIRDS OF ESSEX. 



as it was probably introduced into England, though many centuries- 

 ago, it has not a very good claim to this distinction. 



[Black Swan. 



An introduced Australian species, which has no claim whatever to a 

 place on the British list, though individuals are not unfrequently shot,, 

 apparently quite wild and undomesticated. For instance, one was shot 

 at the Lordship P'arm, Writtle, in the winter of 1873-6, and another here 

 in Jul}', 1878, while Dr. Bree records (34. 3492) one, shot out of a pair 

 at Bradwell, on July 9th, 1873, after having been seen at Walton-on-the- 

 Naze, Frinton, &c. Col. Russell, writing to Mr. Hope on August 17th, 

 1884, says: "One of the Mussetts from West Mersea shot a Black. 

 Swan on the 1st Aug. One, probably the same, was there on Aug. ist„ 

 three or four years ago." Dr. Bree records an adult male shot at Mersea 

 on June loth, 1864 (29. June 25). This had probably escaped from 

 Abbots Ripton Hall, Hunts (29. July 9th, 1864). On July 9th, 1871,. 

 two were seen about ten yards above the sea and fifty from the shore 

 passing Walton-on-Naze, going from Harwich towards Clacton. They 

 were fired at but missed at Frinton. A. Mussett subsequently shot a 

 male, having an entirely empty stomach, at Bradwell. The other escaped 

 (29. July 29, 1871). 



Whooper Swan: Cygnus musicus. Locally, " Wild Swan." 

 A not uncommon visitor to our coast during severe winters, when 

 it is also sometimes met with inland. 



Dale, writing of Harwich, says (2. 403) : " This in winter time is often shot 

 upon this coast," and Lindsey, writing at that place in 185 1, says (27. Ap. 58) 

 they " visit us in the winter, arriving in flocks, sometimes as late as Christmas*- 

 and are generally more numerous as the weather becomes more severe." Mr. 

 Kerry says (40. iv. 69) that a good many were seen about Harwich during the 

 severe weather in December, 1879, and that one was shot on the 8th. Mr. Parsons 

 writes (8) : — 



" The winter of 1829-30 was very severe. There were a good many birds be- 

 fore Christmas, but in January the weather was so severe and the shore so bunged 

 up with ice, that there was no shooting. In February, we had a few days good 

 sport. There were a good many Swans about, and an Eagle [was] shot on Foul- 

 ness. From Dec. 9th to Jan. i6th, it snowed e^•ery da}-, with only one or two 

 exceptions." 



Mr. Clarke notes one (24) killed many years since out of a flock of four, and 

 long in the Audley End Collection ; also two killed at Audley End on Jan. 

 31st, 'and two more on Feb. 4th, 1838. Mr. Blyth says (12. iii. 414) that in the 

 winter of 1837-38 " many appeared in this country and large numbers were shot.. 

 In one place on the Thames I have information of a flock settling among a num- 

 ber of tame Swans, and readily coming to feed on bread, &c., that was thrown to- 

 them. It was consequently hoped that they would have been induced to- 

 remain in the locality, but at the breaking up of the frost they all disappeared, 

 after a sojourn of some weeks. At Manningtree, in Essex, however, a number 

 appear to have taken up their abode, and it is expected will breed there." King also 

 says (15) that " during the last severe winter [1837-38], this country was visited' 

 by immense flocks of these birds. Several were shot in this neighbourhood 

 [Sudbury]." Edward Doubleday includes it in his list of Epping birds (15). 

 One, weighing 22^ lbs., was shot at Southend early in 1861 (29, Feb. 9). 

 Mr. A. H. Smee says (34. 2525) that during the severe weather in the beginning 

 of 1871, some were seen round the mouth of the Thames. One weighing twenty-. 



