ANATID^. 



great feast ; and I have occasionally seen a cygnet exposed 

 for sale in the poulterers' shops of London, but not very 

 lately. 



No. 11. Eton College has the privilege of keeping 

 Swans on the Thames, and this is the College swan- 

 mark. It is intended tocepresent the armed point, and 

 the feathered end of an arrow, and is here represented 

 as cut on the door of one of the inner rooms in the 

 College. 



Nos. 12 and 13 are derived from Mr. Kempe's interest- 

 ing publication of the Losely Manuscripts, and represent 

 the swan-marks of the Dyers' and Vintners' Companies 

 of the City of London, as used in the reign of Elizabeth. 

 These two Companies have long enjoyed the privilege of 

 preserving Swans on the Thames, from London to a con- 

 siderable distance, some miles above Windsor, and they 

 continue the ancient custom of proceeding with their 

 friends and visitors, with the royal swanherd's man, and 

 their own swanherds and assistants, on the first Monday 

 of August in every year, from Lambeth, on their Swan 

 voyage, for the purpose of catching and marking all the 

 cygnets of the year, and renewing any marks in old birds 

 that may by time have become partially obliterated. Mr. 

 Kempe says, " The struggles of the Swans when caught 

 by their pursuers, and the duckings which the latter re- 

 ceived in the contest, made this a diversion with our an- 

 cestors of no ordinary interest." 



The forming circles or annulets on the beak, as observed 

 in these two ancient marks, being considered as inflicting 

 more severe pain upon the bird than straight lines, these 

 rings are now omitted, and the lines doubled, as shown 

 in the marks numbered 14 and 15, which are those of the 

 Dyers' and Vintners' Companies as used at this time : Nos. 



