254 DICTIONARY OF NAMES OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



Central Germany. Frederick II of Biandenburg instituted 

 an Order of the Swan in 1440, and another Order existed 

 at Cleves. The name is a royal one in Bohemia, and the 

 name of the great river Elbe that flows from the confines 

 of that ancient kingdom to the North Sea is itself probably 

 a " swan river," elbschwan being a German name for a kind 

 of Swan, while elb itself is an equivalent of fairy. In the 

 Norse we find elptr, clftr, for these birds, which are obviously 

 connected names, while on our eastern coasts "elk" is the 

 name given to a wild Swan. At the mouth of the Elbe 

 a-re the states of Schleswig-Holstein, formerly a part of the 

 Kingdom of Denmark : and a province in the ancient 

 state of Holsatia was named Stormaria and had for its 

 arms a Swan with its neck encircled by a ducal coronet, 

 which also figures in the ancient arms of the Kings of 

 Denmark (Jonae ab Elvervelt, "De Holsatia," 1592). 

 This province of Stormaria includes among other towns 

 the great modern city of Hamburg, and it appears to have 

 been from this portion of Europe that the invasion of 

 England by the Angles under Ida sailed, landing on the 

 north-east coast of England. For an account of the " swan- 

 coins " of ancient Germany, a curious old work by Christian 

 Schlegel, " De Nummis antiquis Gothanis et Cygneis 

 Dissertatis," may be consulted. An ancient belief was that 

 it was lucky to meet a Swan at sea. On the Island of Riigen 

 in the Baltic it is said to have been credited with bringing 

 the newly-born babies, an office assigned in most parts of 

 Germany to the Stork. The Swan appears several times 

 in the story of the Irish legendary hero Cuchullaind. On 

 one occasion the rescued Princess and her servant follow 

 the hero in the shape of Swans, a story which recalls the tales 

 of Swan-maidens in Danish and German folk-lore. According 

 to a correspondent in the " Athenaeum " (vol. in, p. 229), 

 if the Swan flies against the wind, it is a certain indication 

 of a hurricane within twenty-four hours, generally within 

 twelve. A Scottish saying is " When the white Swan visits 

 the Orkneys expect a continued severe winter " (Inwards). 

 A Hampshire superstition is that Swans are generally 

 hatched during a thunderstorm. The same belief is contra- 

 dicted by Lord Northampton in his " Defensative against 

 the Poyson of Supposed Prophecies " (1583), who says : 

 " It chaunceth sometimes to thunder about that time and 

 season of the yeare when Swannes hatch their young : 

 and yet no doubt it is a paradox of simple men to think 

 that a Swanne cannot hatch without a crack of thunder." 



