152 HOOPER. 



sake of the down and feathers, so very valuable in an Arctic 

 climate. They are ridden and run down with horses and dogs 

 in the autumn, when, being moulting, they are not so well 

 able to fly. 



The following account, given in the 'Zoologist, volume vi., 

 pages 2024-5-6, by Miss Ellen Webley Parry, shews how even 

 a bird, whose very name means wild or savage, may be tamed 

 in the most perfect manner by kindness: 'The winter of 

 1829-30 was remarkably severe, and especially so for South 

 Wales, where the climate is generally mild and humid. There 

 had been numerous flocks of Wild Geese and other northern 

 birds, including the Hooper, or Wild Swan, on the River Tivy 

 and its tributary streams. A pair of these birds were shot 

 and secured by the Kev. Samuel B. Shireff, of Stradmoor, 

 Cardiganshire, whose residence was on the banks of that river. 

 The male bird was merely wounded in the pinion, the female 

 unfortunately too severely so to survive. Mr. Shireff presented 

 the other to my father, the late Bear- Admiral Webley Parry, 

 of Noyadd Trefann, in the same county, in the hope that he 

 might be sufficiently tamed to put on a piece of ornamental 

 water near the house. 



The extreme wildness and fierceness of this bird, if ap- 

 proached, was remarkable, flying at every person who came 

 near his domicile. We placed him in a small yard, with an 

 open shed for him to retire to. It was many days before we 

 could induce him to eat anything; as we were quite ignorant 

 of his natural food we feared he would be starved to death, 

 but fortunately he began to eat sea-biscuit soaked in water, 

 which he continued to live upon for some months. After being 

 kept in this place for more than two months, and being, as 

 we thought, tolerably tame, we put him on the piece of water 

 before named; but no sooner was he on his native element, 

 than all his natural wildness seemed to return; he made his 

 way down to a stream which ran into the Tivy, on which 

 river he was caught, making his way towards the sea, and 

 brought back again. 



Shortly after this, an accident happening to the embankment, 

 the piece of water became dry, and 'Dan,' as he was called, 

 was brought up to the house, and had to content himself 

 in the circumscribed limits of the stable and poultry yards, 

 together with the farm -yard pond. From the number of 

 people constantly passing and repassing there, and his long 

 sojourn, he became excessively tame, went to bed with the 



