CHAPTER XIII 



WILD SWANS 



That grand bird the Whooping Swan can only 

 be considered a very uncertain visitor to England, 

 as his visits depend in so great a measure on the 

 severity of the weather. Scotland and Ireland are 

 more favoured by him, being visited at times by 

 very great numbers of these beautiful birds. As the 

 fowlers who have shot on the tide there have given 

 most accurate and minute accounts of them, I shall 

 confine myself to simply describing what I have seen 

 when shore-shooting. 



As a rule the winters are not so severe now as 

 they were in my earlier years, when I have known 

 it freeze for weeks without a break ; and when the 

 creek would be filled with floating ice, to say nothing 

 of the vessels which were fixed as tight as if they 

 were jammed by it. When the tide was high and 

 rough, the cracking, grinding, and crunching used 

 to be something to remember. In such weather a 

 few swans would visit the more lonely parts. 



In some parts of Scotland, and notably so in 

 Ireland at the present day, very great prejudices 

 exist against shooting wild swans ; in fact, so strong 

 are they that some fowlers would not shoot a swan 



