THE SWANS 183 



Nominally the mute-swan is a royal bird in the British Isles, and 

 even at the present time all the swans at liberty on the Thames are 

 the property of the Crown or the Vintners and Dyers Companies. 

 Every year a pilgrimage is made up the river, when the young birds of 

 the year are caught and marked on the bill, generally in July, the 

 process occupying about four days. 1 Although occasionally female 

 cygnets have been known to pair and lay in their second year, the 

 majority do not breed till their third year. After the second autumn 

 they have lost the grey plumage of immaturity and are entirely white. 

 In the case of the so-called Polish swan, the cygnets are white from 

 the earliest stage, and for this and other reasons it was formerly 

 believed to be a distinct species, but it is now generally believed to 

 be only a white variety of the ordinary form. 



A certain, amount of fighting takes place between the males at 

 this period, and in some cases stubbornly contested battles take 

 place. E. T. Booth describes a fierce fight between two old males, 

 which were holding one another down on the water and flogging one 

 another with their wings, till the water was completely covered with 

 feathers for a long distance and both were exhausted. When once 

 paired the swan is mated for life, and at all periods of the year the 

 two birds are to be seen together, the cob, or male bird, distinguished 

 by his superior size and thicker neck. The choice of partners 

 appears to take place in the autumn, and at the beginning of spring 

 pairing takes place. At such times the plumage of the body lies flat 

 and smooth, while the two birds approach one another and appear 

 from a distance to place their heads together, uttering their note 

 softly at the same time. They do not actually touch though, and 

 presently one bird begins to dip its head into the water and raise it 

 again, the other also following suit, and the movement being repeated 

 dozens of times. Frequently the two birds are so close together that 

 the male dips his head into the water over the female's neck, both 



1 For further information on the subject of swan marks, see Yarrell, 4th ed., iv. pp. 329-339 ; 

 and Stevenson, Birds of Norfolk, iii. p. 102. 



