THE SWIJIillNG, OR KATxVrOlUAL GROUP. 183 



is the largest in the kingdom, and though 

 formerly much more extensive, it still numbers 

 many hundreds of these birds, forming an 

 object of considerable attraction and interest 

 to those who visit this part of the coast. It 

 is now vested in the earl of Ilchester, to whose 

 ancestor it was granted on the dissolution of 

 the monasteries." 



The city of Oxford has a game of swans by 

 prescription, but we do not know that any 

 are now kept. 



On the Thames, the Dyers' and Vintners' 

 Company, with the crown, divide the games 

 of swans between them. The royal mark on 

 the beak is made on the skin of the upper 

 mandible with a knife. 



The Dyers' Company have the swan-mai'k 

 consisting of a single notch or nick on one 

 side of the beak ; that of the Vintners' Com- 

 pany consists of a mark on each side of the 

 beak. Hence the sign of the swan with two 

 nicks, converted in the present day into two 

 necls. 



The adult male swan is called a cob, the 

 adult female a pen, the young a cygnet. 

 The cygnets when hatched are clothed with 

 brownish gray down, and do not acquire 



