90 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



they have been driven south by severe weather in their far 

 northern haunts. Doubtless Mr. Patterson . . . knows all about 

 these latest visitors." 



As a matter of fact, I was extremely unfortunate with regard 

 to seeing any of these Swans, alive or dead, and felt called upon 

 to reply to the article in question ; and, as my letter was given 

 in almost its entirety, take the liberty of re-writing it as given by 

 the editor : — 



" Mr. Arthur H. Patterson .... sends to the ' Express ' an 

 interesting account of an attempt to identify a Polish Swan after 

 the bird had been placed in the boiling-pot. Mr. Patterson 

 first of all refers to the flock of Wild Swans which were mentioned 

 in the ' Express ' as having visited Breydon Water, near Yar- 

 mouth. 



'.On very reliable authority,' Mr. Patterson says, 'I under- 

 stood that about sixty Swans were seen on that delightful old 

 backwater. Unfortunately I just missed seeing them, and I 

 was equally unfortunate in not seeing the four that were shot — 

 three by one of my acquaintances, and one by another punt- 

 gunner. I have seen as many as fifty at one time, and I can 

 assure you they were a sight worth seeing. The odd bird shot, 

 from a description given me, I took to be a Polish Swan, and it 

 was sold to a carnivorous publican for forty-two pence. I saw 

 him just too late, for on visiting his bar he assured me that the 

 " missus" had plucked it. Let me see but a foot, I begged ; on 

 which he called the "missus," who presently came forward. 

 " Let Mr. Patterson see the head and the feet of that Swan," he 

 said. She apologised, and said that both were in the saucepan, 

 which she ran indoors and fetched, hauling out a foot on a huge 

 fork ; but I found boiled Swan's foot was an awkward thing to 

 swear the bird's identity by, and would have defied Prof. Owen 

 himself.' " 



January 12*7?, 1907.— The weather and bird-life generally 

 have returned to the normal. To-day's market was comparatively 

 birdless. Only on one stall was there evidence of anything un- 

 usual having occurred for a day or two. A haberdasher named 

 Youngs (the hero of the Whistling Ducks)* had suspended, amid 

 stockings and underclothing, a large display of Coots tied in 



* Cf. Zool. 1906, pp. 394-5. 



