74 . . A TOPOGRAPHICAL 



afforded the sportsman a variety of game : the chace was also pur- 

 sued with avidity and delight in its ample space, while the Trent 

 offered to the skill of the angler great varieties of fish. This river 

 abounds with pike, perch, greyling, eel, gudgeon, and craw-fish ; 

 trout and burbot are more rare j barbel, roach, dace, and chub, may 

 be seeij in large shoals. A pike was caught in the Trent at Mkvesyn 

 Rid ware, in 1785, which measured one yard six inches and a half, 

 ,and weighed twenty-four, pounds and a half. An enormous pike 

 was caught in 1772, above four feet long, weighing thirty-one 

 pounds and three-quarters. The otter is the most formidable enemy 

 of the pike in this river* and will attack, kill, and devour those of 

 the largest size. Above fifty brace of pike have been killed here in 

 a season, it bejng the rule to take none but those that measure 

 twenty inches in length; so that out of 179 caught, 113 have been 

 thrown into the river, as being under size. Though the neighbour- 

 ing brooks abound with trout, there are few in the Trent, yet these 

 few are the finest fish in the river. Several have been caught of 

 the weight of four pounds a-piece and more. .. ... 



" This and the neighbouring royalties have had ' game of swans' 

 immemorially ; swans and their aeries are named in Handsacre very 

 early, by deed s. D. and are the great ornament of the river, where 

 they are in a sort of wild state, having no food given to them even 

 in the most severe winters. In pairing-time they are very vicious, 

 and fight furiously, the weaker bird being driven to a distance, and 

 one is frequently killed, or has a wing broken if he escapes ; so that 

 iu the extent of three miles there are not often seen here more than 

 two nests. The hen lays seldom less than five, generally six, very 

 often seven or eight, and even nine eggs, making her nest in the 

 same spot for years together, unless disturbed j and on a rise of 

 water has been seen to raise her nest, yet the nests are often de- 

 stroyed by floods. At this time the cob jealously guards his mate : 

 a hardy dog has been stunned with the force of his wing, and 

 trampled under water till nearly exhausted ; and a lusty farmer 

 was unhorsed and ducked, as he attempted to cross the river incau- 

 tiously too near the nest. The cygnets are not marked and pinioned 

 till after Michaelmas, when they begin to take a daily flight."* 



The swans belonging to eight royalties on the banks of the Trent, 

 are distinguished by peculiar marks made by the swan-marker, who 

 annually catches them for that purpose with an iron crook. 



* Shaw's History and Antiquities of Staffordshire,. VoL I. p. 189. 



