178 THE SWANS 



THE SWANS 

 [F. C. R. JOURDAIN] 



The Swans form a small and easily recognisable group of birds, 

 familiar in appearance to almost everybody, through the medium of 

 the common mute-swan, which may be seen on most ornamental 

 waters and large rivers in England. Its large size, snowy plumage, 

 and graceful carriage on the water are so striking that even the most 

 unobservant can hardly confuse it with any other bird, except the 

 two rarer wild species which visit us in winter. It is also widely 

 distributed at the present time, and in some favoured localities is 

 extremely common. Thus the famous Abbotsbury swannery at one 

 time is said to have contained 1300 birds, and though the disastrous 

 winter of 1880 destroyed half the stock, the numbers remained 

 stationary for several years at about 700 or 800, and gradually 

 increased till in the autumn of 1911 they reached 1043. l Very large 

 numbers are also to be seen on most of our large rivers, and no 

 fewer than 481 were captured at the " swan-upping " progress of 1897 

 between London Bridge and Henley alone. 



It is when we come to consider the status of this fine bird that 

 we find some difficulty in deciding how far it is admissible, in a work 

 which treats of the wild bird life of our islands and does not include 

 domesticated animals. Like the pheasant and the redlegged- 

 partridge, it is said to have been introduced from the Continent, 

 but the introduction obviously took place at a very early period. 

 Tradition ascribes it to Richard Coeur de Lion, who is said to have 

 brought the first over from Cyprus, towards the end of the twelfth 

 century. The earliest indisputable reference to their presence occurs 

 in a manuscript of the date 1272. Three hundred years later they 



1 See an interesting article by Mr. Marcus Woodward, " A City of Swans," published in 

 Pearson'.* Magazine, 1912. 



