1^ SHOOTING. 



Tiie Sioan Goose {Anas Cygnoides, Linn.) is another interesting 

 species of this family^ of web-footed birds. It is a full yard ii 

 length, and is of the size between the swan and the common .^oose. 

 It is known from the goose by its stately deportment, and by its 

 having a large knob on the root of the upper mandible, and a skhi 

 almost bare of feathers, L.Liiging down like a pouch or wattle undei 

 the throat. A white -line or fillet is extended from the corners oj 

 the mouth over the front of the brow. The hue of the bill is 

 orange, and the irides of a reddish brown. A dark brown oi; 

 black stripe runs down the hinder part of the neck, from the head! 

 to the back. The fore part of the neck and the breast are yeUowishj 

 brown, and the back, and all the upper parts, brownish gray,! 

 fringed ^vith a light colour. The legs are orange. j 



Some ytniters maintain that these birds came originally froin| 

 Guinea, m Africa. The breed now, however, is very commoni 

 everywhere, and they are widely and numerously dispersed, both! 

 in a wild and domestic state. They are found in great numbers: 

 about Baikal, an eastern section of Siberia, and .likewise in 

 Kamtschatka. They are kept in a state of domestication in mosti 

 of the Russian provmces. 



The Mute Swan {Anas Cygnus Mansiietus, Linn.). The plumage oi' 

 this swan is of a snowy_ whiteness. It is much larger than the 

 wild swan; often weighmg twenty-five pounds, and measuring 

 three feet and a half in length. The female frames her nest 

 among the rough herbage, near the water's edge. She lays from 

 six to eight large white eggs, and she sits on them for the space of 

 sis weeks — some say eight — before they are hatched. The young 

 do not acquire their fuli plumage till the second year. 



The swan, from the earhest records of our history, has been pro- 

 tectecl on the river Thames as our royal property, and it continues 

 at this'day to be accounted felony to steal their eggs. By this means} 

 theii' increase is secured, and they prove highly ornamental to the 

 river scenery generally. We are told that, in the reign of Edward 

 IV., the estimation in which they were held was such, that no 

 one Yfho possessed a freehold of less than the clear yearly value of; 

 five marks, was permitted even to keep any. In those timesj 

 hardly a piece of water was left unoccupied by these birds, as v.tII' 

 on accomit of the gratification they gave to the eye of their lordly! 

 owners, as that which they also afibrded when*^the}r graced the! 

 sumptuous boards at the splendid feasts of that period; but the' 

 fashions of those days have now passed away, and swans are not: 

 now as common as they were formerly, being by most people con-i 

 sidered a coarse kmd of food, and"^ consequently held in little] 

 estimation; but the cygnets (the yomig swans) are still fattened! 

 for the table, and are sold for a guinea each, and even more ; hencei 

 we may infer that they are better food than is generaUy imagined, | 

 , Wild Geese {Anser, Linn.). — These birds form an important item" 

 in the shooter's vocabulary. Six dilferent species visit the British | 

 shores in winter. The gray-lag is one of these bii-ds, and is tliQ 



