92 On the Occurrence of some of the Rarer Species of Birds 



quantity of which was annually thrown up on my land, which ex- 

 tends nearly two miles along" the margin of the Fleet ; and I made 

 use of a good deal of it for covering the drainage pipes before the 

 soil was returned to the excavated drain. During the severe winter 

 the Fleet was frozen over many inches deep, so that you could walk 

 across to the Chesil Beach. According* to my theory the weed 

 became attached to the under part of the ice, and as the tide rose 

 from day to day the weed was drawn up by its roots. Since then 

 there has been scarcely any weed ; and the poor Swans, being 

 deprived of their favourite food, have many of them died, or left ; 

 the numbers being reduced from thirteen or fourteen hundred to 

 about seven hundred. I believe the weed is beginning to grow 

 again, especially towards the Abbotsbury end. Of course Lord 

 Ilchester has had to supply the Swans with corn." It is to be 

 hoped, I am sure, that as the weed once more assumes its wonted 

 vigour the number of the birds will also rival the highest numbers 

 I have been able to quote. 



Where the notion came from of the Swan singing before its 

 death it is very hard to say ; the origin of it seems to be lost in the 

 shades of antiquity. Waterton, the naturalist, gives a graphic 

 description of his attendance at the obsequies of a favourite swan, 

 at which he was actually present, hoping that some sound might 

 possibly emanate from it which might serve to corroborate the 

 asserted fact ; but " there was not even a plaintive sound nor soft 

 inflection of the voice : the poor bird never even uttering his wonted 

 cry, nor so much as a sound to indicate what he felt within. " 



Cygnus Musicus. " The Whooper, or Whistling Swan/'' This 

 bird cannot be compared to the former species for beauty or elegance 

 of appearance. It can be at once distinguished from it by its 

 shorter and straighter neck, and its yellow bill. It is not so heavy a 

 bird, either, weighing some five pounds less than the Mute Swan. 

 It is not nearly so grand a bird upon the water, though on the laud 

 its movements are considerably quicker. It is occasionally seen at 

 Christchurch, appearing always in hard winters. In the winter of 

 18 ; J8, no less than thirty-one head were killed by Lord Malmesbury 

 and party, and three more on February 17th, 1879. I remember 



