THE SWANNERY AT ABBOTSBURY. 507 
holy fathers who inhabited it; so that when we descended to the 
main object of our visit, the domain of the Swans, we had a 
profound sense of the power and wealth of the lordly Abbot, 
quondam owner of the Swannery, of the “game of Swaus,” as it 
was technically termed; who moreover enjoyed the special privi- 
lege granted by the Crown, but very seldom granted to any subject, 
of seizing within a certain district all white Swans not marked 
with a recognized and licensed swan-mark cut in the upper 
mandible and registered by the royal swanherd. This, moreover, 
was at a period when Swans were generally considered royal 
property, and permission to own them at all was only given 
under special circumstances. So it seemed to fit in with all 
the surrounding circumstances to learn that the seven hundred 
or eight hundred Swans, which now compose the colony, are 
only the miserable remnant, in these degenerate days, of the 
thousands (some say eight thousand) which abounded here in 
former times. 
Leaving the village behind us, and approaching the sea, we 
found the precincts of the Swannery shut out from profane view 
by a high fence, at the door of which stood the custodian of the 
Swans, in all respects the very beau ideal of what a swanherd 
should be—a fine specimen of the class of keeper, not indeed of 
the modern fine gentleman type, but of the race such as Bewick’s 
vignettes depict—workman-like in appearance, dress and manner, 
one who knew his business and did it. He had been in the 
service of the family of Lord Ilchester, the present owner of the 
Swannery, above fifty years; and, as regards Swans, there is 
little doubt that this honest old man had more practical know- 
ledge of their habits, their life-history, and their dispositions, 
than all the ornithologists and members of our learned Societies 
put together. 
It was disappointing to be told on arriving that we were too late 
for the Swans, and that to see them in perfection we should have 
visited them in March instead of July! I suppose the dismay which 
this announcement caused must have shown itself in our faces, for 
the worthy keeper immediately reassured us, by saying that though 
the bulk of the colony had gone down the Fleet, or Back-water, 
with their young, still he could probably show us some two or 
three hundred. This was quite satisfactory, indeed beyond our 
most sanguine expectations; for had not our chief authority on 
