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graceful when sailing on the water ; and it appears to take to the land most unwillingly, and only 

 remains there for a short time, though both old and young birds select sometimes a place close 

 to the edge of the water, where they tread down the reeds and use it as a regular resting-place. 

 When sailing peacefully on the bosom of a lake or a sheet of ornamental water, with the 

 scapulars and inner wing-feathers erected and its neck gracefully arched, there is no more 

 graceful bird than the Mute Swan ; and one can well understand why it has for so long been 

 ranked as a royal bird, which it is in England, where no subject can have or hold it when at 

 large in a public river or creek unless by grant from the crown ; and in granting this privilege 

 the crown also grants a swan-mark, which consists of a letter or some device cut in the skin on 

 the upper mandible of the bird. So far as I can ascertain, this mode of marking the Swans on 

 the beak is in vogue only in Great Britain, whereas on the Continent Swans are either marked 

 by punching the web of a foot, or else by affixing a metal ring around the neck of the bird. 

 With us, however, the privileges connected with the ownership of Swans and the right of having 

 a swan-mark are so important, and have been held in such great estimation, that they form a 

 most important part of the history of this bird, as far as England is concerned. Yarrell (Hist. 

 Brit. B. iii. pp. 216-229) and Stevenson, in an article on the Mute Swan written for his ' Birds 

 of Norfolk,' have, however, gone so very fully into this matter that I need only refer very shortly 

 to it. According to Yarrell it was first enacted in the reign of Edward IV. (in the year 1482) 

 that " no person whatever, except the King's son, should have any swan-mark or game of Swans 

 of his own, or any other to his use, except he hath freehold lands and tenements to the clear 

 yearly value of five marks ;" but there is no doubt that swan-marks were used much earlier than 

 that period, as the preamble to this statute states that the law was passed to prevent the robbery 

 of Cygnets by unprincipled people who used to place their own marks on them to avoid detection. 

 In 1496 it was ordered that the stealing or taking of a Swan's egg should be punished by a 

 year's imprisonment and a fine at the King's will, and stealing, snaring, or driving Swans was 

 punishable still more severely ; and since then several more acts appear to have been passed to 

 regulate the marking of Swans and the registry of swan-marks, of owners of Swans, and also of 

 their swanherds. Previous to the dissolution of monasteries in England most of the swan-marks 

 appear to have been granted to the various religious houses ; and when their lands were either 

 taken over by the crown or granted to corporate bodies or others, the swan rights followed with 

 other privileges attached to the soil. The Swans on the Thames belong to Her Majesty and two 

 of the city companies — the Dyers' and the Vintners' Company, whose marks are given by Yarrell, 

 who states that in 1841 the total number of Swans belonging to these amounted to 437 old and 

 young birds. The city of Oxford has also the right to keep Swans on the Thames, but does not 

 exercise it ; and Eton College owns the same privilege. The catching and marking of Cygnets 

 and the renewing of marks in old birds that may have become obliterated is termed " swan- 

 upping ;" the male Swan is called a " Cob," the female a " Pen ;" the young bird in its first year 

 is termed a " Cygnet," and in its second year a " Grey bird." When the periodical " upping " 

 takes place the young birds are not only nicked or marked on the bill, but they are also pinioned 

 to prevent them from flying away, as they probably would do were they not thus disabled. For 

 an excellent account of swan-upping I may refer to Mr. Stevenson's exhaustive article on the 



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