MUTE SWAN. 
217 
In the winter of 1739 one was shot at Emsworth, which 
had a brass collar on its neck bearing the letters " R.V.I." 
cut through the brass ; the collar was at the time sent to 
the Duke of Richmond for his inspection, but was never 
returned.' 
We wrote to Mr. Harting, as our greatest authority on 
the antiquarian side of Natural History, to ask if he could 
suggest an interpretation for this inscription, and he kindly 
replied as follows : " As to the letters I am puzzled, and 
can only surmise that they may stand for Regis Vivarii 
Incola! But I have no authority for such a reading, 
though I can give you an earlier authority for the use of a 
Latin inscription to denote royal ownership. The silver 
varvels, attached to the jesses of the King's hawks in 
James I.'s time, used to bear the words " Sum regis 
AnglicBr 
Mr. Harting also kindly refers us to another Emsworth 
swan — unless it is the same bird under another date — 
mentioned in Hone's "Every Day Book" (July 12th): 
"In the hard winter of 1726 a swan was killed at 
Emsworth .... that had a ring round its neck, with the 
King of Denmark's arms on it." 
The Polish swan (C. immutabilis) can only be con- 
sidered as a variety of the mute swan, differing in the 
colour of the young. 
* Longcroft's ** Hundred of Bosmere," 1857. 
