214 THE BIRDS OF DETOX. 



distances from the Exe, and were often shot as " 'Vi'Wi Swans." From 

 "an absurd idea that they destroyed the salmon-spawn their numbers have 

 been greatly reduced by the fishermen, and now only a few pairs remain. 

 Some are kept on ponds and ornamental waters throughout the county, 

 ia a domesticated condition. On June 21st, 1S8], a female Swan, five 

 feet in length and weighing 24^ lbs., was brought to us. She had broken 

 her neck by fiying against a telegraph-wire at Cowley Eridge, near 

 Exeter ; she had eight cygnets at the time. When we were very young 

 there was much talk in the neighbourhood of Topsham about some Swans 

 that had been killed with silver collars round their necks. This must 

 have happened in 1>36 or 1838, we think. 



Under the name of the Polish Swan (C>/r/mi.s immnfaMlis, Yarrell), 

 Mr. Yarrell described a beautiful Swan, apparently differing somewhat 

 from the Mute Swan, which was found invariably to have its cygnets 

 pure white, while the Mute Swan has them grey. As this White Swan has 

 been met with nowhere else except on the Eritish coasts, and its habitat 

 has not been detected in any part of the world, ornithologists are very 

 doubtful if it is more than a variety of the Mute Swau ; and in the ' Field ' 

 for October 17th, 1891, Mr. A. D. Bartlett, of the Zoological Gardens in 

 Loudon, Avhile writing on the subject of alhinos, instances the Polish 

 Swan of Yarrell as a remarkable example of semi-albinism in the Common 

 Mute Swan. It is probable, therefore, that this puzzling Swau will 

 henceforth be re!;ardcd as onlv an albinism of the common bird. 



Whooper Swan. Ci/f/mis musicns (Bechst.). 



A casual visitor of rare occurrence, and only in severe winters. Pol- 

 ■whele, in his ' History of Devon,' vol. i. p. Ill, states that in 1788-89, the 

 Ptiver Exe, and the Exminster Marshes, and banks of the Itiver Clyst 

 ■were covered with Swans, but of what species he does not say. In 

 January 1830, many "Wild Swans were brought to the markets in 

 Plymouth and Devonport, and in the same year some were obtained in 

 the north of the countv (E. M., Trans. Plvm. Inst. 1830 ; Mag. Xat. 

 Hist. 1837, p. 3G0 ; and T. J., Bray's 'Tamar and Tavy'). Mr. Henry 

 IS^icholls writes : " in a severe winter some fifty years ago, I saw a flock of 

 nineteen [Whoopers] in the Kingshridge estuarv, near Gerston Kiln. 

 Many were obtained, and passed through my hands. I saw three hung 

 up in the kiln on the Quay, which had just been shot by a man called 

 Pepperall.'' Some were shot on the Kingshridge estuary in the winter 

 of 1860, and one on Slapton Ley in the winter of 18G<j (K. P. X., MS. 

 Notes). Two Swans were seen flying up the I'iver Tamar, January 10th, 

 1877 (J. G., Zool. 1877, p. 103), and were probably the same as two 

 "Wild Swans killed in Cornwall soon afterwards. One was killed on the 

 Yealm in January 1881 (Zool. 1881, p. 196). Two are said to have been 

 shot at Pude. Seven were seen in Torbay in January 1891. One 

 was killed at Slaptou about the same time, and is now in the Torquay 

 Museum ("W. E.). 



