( 176 ) 

 A CONTRIBUTION TO SWAN HISTOKY. 



BY 



N. F. TICEHURST, m.a.. f.r.c.s.eng. 



In the course of various researches into the past history of 

 the Kentish avifauna, the subject of Swan-rights has naturally 

 presented itself for examination. During the years spent 

 in collecting material for a history of the birds of that county 

 search was made in vain in all the likely places with which 

 I was then acquainted for any trace of their former existence ; 

 and though one felt sure that this was merely due to want 

 of effort directed in the proper channels, the subject was 

 necessarily passed over in silence in that volume. Recent 

 inquiry has, however, resulted in the accumulation of a 

 certain amount of material, but at present this is so in- 

 complete as to be hardly worth putting together in permanent 

 form. 



In the present paper I will, therefore, content myself 

 with bringing forward one or two points that are of more 

 than local interest, in that they throw a little light on the 

 history of Swan-keeping at a very early date, including a 

 Swan-mark, the record of which is, almost certainly I believe, 

 the oldest of its kind that has yet been brought to light. 



Our knowledge of English Swan-law, with its customs, 

 regulations and marks is usually reckoned to date back 

 to the statute of 22 Edward IV., c. 6 (1483). It is quite 

 clear, however, from the preamble of this Act that the keeping 

 and marking of Swans was a practice of far greater antiquity. 

 Whether originally regulated by statute (since lost) or merely 

 by custom, it is evident that it had become so universal, and 

 poaching by unprincipled owners so rife, that this statute 

 was really passed for the suppression of such irregularities 

 and to restrict the ownership of Swans. Its provisions 

 have been frequently quoted (vide Yarrell, British Birds, 

 IV., p. 330, etc., etc.), but the preamble which is certainly 

 just as enlightening from an historical point of view seems 

 never to have been quoted and is referred to, so far as I can 

 ascertain, in the Birds of Norfolk only. It may be of interest, 

 therefore, to reproduce its text here (translated) : — 



" Item, Where as well our said Sovereign Lord the King, as other 

 Lords, Knights, Esquires and other Noble Men of this noble Realm 

 of England, have been heretofore greatly stored of Marks and 

 Games of Swans in divers parts of this Realm of England, until of 

 late that divers keepers of Swans have bought and made to them 

 Marks and Games in the Fens and Marshes, and other places and 



