THE TAME OR MUTE SWAN. 
21 
December 16, 1849. — When walking along the new Antrim 
road, about a mile from Belfast, to-day, which was fine and mild 
for the season, with dark and heavy clouds impending about the 
mountains, I saw a flock of six wild swans for a considerable 
time. At first they came in view above the town reservoir, and 
then went in the direction of Devis mountain, beating about all 
the while as slowly as they could fly. The day was of such a 
kind that only their back and the upper surface of their wings 
showed white when these happened to be turned towards me ; 
otherwise they were wholly in shade, and appeared quite dark ; 
so much so that, at first sight, they were imagined to be wild 
geese. Their snowy plumage, thus occasionally seen aloft in the 
air, in strong contrast with the lurid masses of clouds, had a 
singular and even grand effect. 
Since 1837, when the fact was mentioned that Bewick's swan 
is much more common than the hooper in Ireland, I have found 
it to continue so (1849). In addition to my own observation on 
the subject, Mr. R. Ball considers that four-fifths of the wild 
swans brought to Dublin market are C. BewicJcii. A similar 
proportion, too, occurred in Connaught, to Mr. G. Jackson, game- 
keeper, as of about forty or fifty wild swans killed there by 
him during several winters, all excepting five or six were of this 
species. It is the only swan which has been observed on the 
coast of Kerry, where it appears in very severe winters.* 
Mr. Blackwall, in his ‘Researches in Zoology' (p. 171), gives 
a most interesting — in part, affecting — account of the attach- 
ment of a pair of these birds.f 
The Tame or Mute Swan, Gygnus olor , Gmelin (sp.), is not 
known to have occurred in a wild state in Ireland, though it is believed 
to have occasionally wandered to Great Britain, from its native abode 
in north-eastern Europe. The date of its introduction to the more 
western island is unknown to me. Smith, in his ‘ History of Cork’ 
(1749), remarks that — “ The tame swan is frequently met with near 
gentlemen’s seats on their ponds and reservoirs.” 
* Mr. R. Chute, December 1849. 
f It is copied into YarreU’s work. 
