224? ANATIDjE. 



those of Charles the First and his Queen. The next, c, 

 and d, are those of Oxford and Cambridge. The city of 

 Oxford has a game of Swans by prescription, though none 

 are now kept. In the sixteenth century, when a state 

 dinner was not complete unless a Swan were included in 

 the bill of fare, this gante of Swans was rented upon an 

 engagement to deliver yearly four fat Swans, and to leave 

 six old ones at the end of the term. By the corporation 

 books it also appears that in 1557, barley was provided for 

 the young birds at fourteen pence a bushel, and that tithes 

 were then paid of Swans. I learned also from the late 

 Rev. Dr. Thackeray, Provost of King's College, Cam- 

 bridge, that the old Munden books of that College contain 

 entries of payments made for feeding Swans. 



But the most curious books on swan-marks that I have 

 as yet seen, were two in the library at Strawberry Hill, 

 which were sold in April, 1842. They appeared in the 

 catalogue on the 6th day, and 8th lot, as, " Two books of 

 swan-marks, 8vo. on vellum, very rare." One of them 

 contained 810 marks, the other 80 marks: both books 

 commenced with a royal mark. There was no explanation 

 or description of the different marks, only the name of the 

 party to whom the mark had been appropriated, in the 

 characters of the time of Elizabeth. 



No. 9, the first swan-mark of the representations forming 

 the final vignette, is that of the corporation of Norwich, 

 now used to mark the Swans belonging to the corporation 

 on the river Yare. 



No. 10, is the swan-mark of the late Bishop of Nor- 

 wich, the President of the Linnean Society of London, to 

 whose kindness I am indebted for the following particu- 

 lars as now practised at Norwich, in reference to the feed- 

 ing the young Swans of the year for the table. The 



