114 BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 



by Mr. Gray, this is not the case ; and, notwithstanding 

 the announcement in the " Catalogue " above referred 

 to, and a similar entry in the " Handlist," iii., p. 78, 

 Mr. Sharpe's private copy of the "Handlist," marked 

 by Mr. G. E. Gray himself, intimates that this Norfolk 

 specimen is not in the Museum.* 



On the 14th of November, 1868, the Eev. T. J. 

 Blofeld sent me a large swan, which he had just killed 

 on Hoveton Broad, and which, from peculiar differences 

 in the bill and feet, he rightly conjectured to be of this 

 species. This bird had been seen for some days in the 

 company of, though not exactly consorting with, the 

 mute swans, on the broad, and attention was more 

 particularly directed to it, from its occasional nights; 

 and it was at last shot when on the wing. It proved, on 

 dissection, to be a female, and its general measurements 

 were as nearly as possible those given by Macgillivray. In 

 the left wing the first primary was short as if partially 

 moulted, the rest perfect, but the right wing had only 

 the two first primaries complete, the rest clipped evenly 

 to less than half their proper length, showing that this 

 swan was a straggler only from other waters, and 

 not a genuine wild visitant to our coast. The feet, 

 which together with the head, are now, through the 

 kindness of Mr. Blofeld, in my collection, were, in a 

 fresh state, of a light grey colour, a specific peculiarity 

 according to Yarrell ; but having remarked that some 

 cygnets of the mute swan have light grey feet and others 



* The only specimen of the Polish swan in the British Museum 

 is a fine young male, shot at "Nairn, N. B., September 27th, 1872, 

 which was forwarded in the flesh to Mr. Gould by Viscount 

 Holmesdale, who, in a letter published by Mr. Gould in the 

 Introduction to his "Birds of Great Britain," states that it was 

 one of five which came to a wild loch by the sea during the 

 northerly gales prevalent at that time. 



