ANATID.E. 239 



several examples of the Egyptian goose have oc- 

 curred in different parts of the county. These were 

 probably the descendants of birds which had been 

 introduced into England from abroad ; and which 

 have been known in many instances to have es- 

 caped from ponds and ornamental pieces of water. 

 One in my own collection was shot at Shoreham 

 Harbour, in December, 1847. I have seen a spe- 

 cimen at Hollycombe which was killed in that 

 neighbourhood. It has also been obtained at 

 Bexhill, and in various parts of the interior. 



HOOPER, Cygnus ferus. Wild Swan or Whist- 

 ling Swan. An unusually severe winter always 

 brings this bird to our coast. In January, 1839, 1 

 saw several flocks at Pagham, and procured many 

 specimens. 



MUTE SWAN, Cygnus olor. Seen in a half- 

 domesticated state on ponds and rivers. Some- 

 times a male of this species performs a sort of 

 partial migration, and proves that he can make use 

 of his wings when occasion requires it. A swan 

 will then occasionally disappear, and all enquiries 

 in the neighbourhood proving ineffectual, the loss 

 is attributed to the poacher or the midnight rob- 

 ber, until perhaps it is discovered that the bird 

 had only joined some solitary spinster on a distant 

 pond, where she had been doomed to float for 

 many years in " single blessedness." 



