THE SWIM JUNG, OK NATATORIAl, GROUP. 181 



It is the Oie de GumSe of BufFon. Individuals 

 are sometimes to be met with almost purely- 

 white, with a brown mark down the back of 

 the neck. As an ornament of ponds and lakes, 

 in pleasure grounds, these birds are little in- 

 ferior to the swan, and it is chiefly for this 

 purpose that they are kept. We have, how- 

 ever, seen them, and particularly the mixed 

 breed, in farm yards. 



The Tame Swan, or Mute Swan. — The 

 tame swan {cyynus olof) may perhaps come 

 ■within the list of domestic birds, for though 

 it lives and breeds at large on our rivers and 

 sheets of water, it is not an indigenous species, 

 in our island, nor is it one of our migratory 

 visitors. Moreover, it is in all cases under 

 ownership, and guarded by express laws 

 relative to its preservation. It is, in fact, a 

 "bird royal," in which no subject can have 

 property, so long as it is on a public river or 

 creek, except by an express grant. 



The present species, in a wild condition, is a 

 native of Siberia, north-eastern Europe, and 

 the adjacent parts of Asia, migrating south- 

 wards in winter, when it occasionally visits 

 Italy. On the Caspian Sea, through Asia 

 Minor, Mesopotamia, and Syria, it is abundant 



