1 86 THE GUN: AFIELD AND AFLOAT 



of this species will measure about 5 ft., and in good 

 condition may weigh up to 30 Ib. 



It is only within comparatively recent times that the 

 Polish swan has been recognized as having characteristics 

 d stinct from the Mute swan. In the case of the Polish 

 swan the cygnets are white from hatching, those of the 

 Mute swan being greyish-brown in colour. The Polish 

 swan also differs from our common swan in that the 

 knob at the base of its bill is not nearly so prominent a 

 feature ; moreover it has legs and feet of a pale ash- 

 grey or slate colour, those of the Mute swan being black. 

 The Zoologist of February 1880 records the fact of a 

 pair of Polish swans having been shot on Wroxham 

 Broad. Both were fully adult, and as they had their 

 wings perfect, it was assumed that they were wild birds. 

 The male weighed 22 Ib., and the female 19 Ib., the 

 former measuring 5 ft. 2 in., and the latter 5 ft. in length. 

 Some four or five years later an immature female 

 Polish swan was killed at Wramplingham. This bird 

 weighed 15 Ib., measuring 4 ft. 8 in. in length, and 7 ft. 

 from tip to tip of its fully-extended wings. 



The Whooper called thus from its loud call-note 

 is the wild swan proper of the wild-fowler, by whom in 

 certain districts it is familiarly known as Elk, or Whist- 

 ling swan. Rearing its young in Iceland, and in the 

 north of Norway, Sweden and Russia, this bird visits 

 this country in the winter season, usually in severe 

 weather. It occurs in greatest numbers when driven to 

 seek our more temperate shores through the inclemency 

 of the weather in Northern Europe, and is then generally 

 found to be most plentiful along our eastern seaboard. 

 The old birds of this species have the plumage pure 

 white, with legs and feet dull black ; Whooper cygnets 



