THE TAME OR MUTE SWAN. * 21 



Beceviher 16, 1849. — Wlieu walking along tlie new Antrim 

 road, about a mile from Belfast, to-day, wliicli was fine and mild 

 for the season, with dark and heavy clouds impending about the 

 mountains, I saw a flock of six wild swans for a considerable 

 time. At first they came in view above the town reservoir, and 

 then went in the direction of Devis mountain, beating about aU 

 the while as slowly as they could fly. The day was of such a 

 kind that only their back and the upper surface of their wings 

 showed white when these happened to be turned towards me ; 

 otherwise they were wholly in shade, and appeared quite dark ; 

 so much so that, at first sight, they were imagined to be wild 

 geese. Their snowy plumage, thus occasionally seen aloft in the 

 air, in strong contrast with the lurid masses of clouds, had a 

 singular and even grand effect. 



Since 1837, when the fact was mentioned that Bewick's swan 

 is much more common than the hooper in Ireland, I have found 

 it to continue so (1849). In addition to my own observation on 

 the subject, Mr. R. Ball considers that four-fifths of the wild 

 swans brought to Dublin market are C. Bewickii. A similar 

 proportion, too, occurred in Connaught, to Mr. G. Jackson, game- 

 keeper, as of about forty or fifty wild swans killed there by 

 him during several winters, all excepting five or six were of this 

 species. It is the only swan which has been observed on the 

 coast of Kerry, where it appears in very severe winters."^ 



Mr. Blackwall, in his 'Eesearches in Zoology" (p. 171), gives 

 a most interesting — in part, affecting — account of the attach- 

 ment of a pair of these birds. t 



The Tame or Mute Swan, Cycjnus olor, Giuelin (sp.), is not 

 kuowii to have occurred iu a wild state in Ireland, though it is believed 

 to have occasionally wandered to Great Britain, from its native abode 

 in north-eastern Europe. The date of its introduction to the more 

 western island is unknown to nie. Smith, in his 'History of Cork' 

 (1749), remarks that — " The tame swan is frc([iiently met with near 

 gentlemen's seats on their ponds and reservoirs." 



* Mr. 11. Chute, Dccumber ISl'J. f It is copied into Yaiicll's work. 



