MISCELLANY. 
213 
appear to many an utter absurdity, the thing is not only possible but easy. It 
is true that fish are perfectly helpless when out of their proper element, and will 
not drown when afloat if left to the guidance of their own instinct; but if a 
Grilse, Salmon, or Trout, or in short any other species of fish, when newly taken 
from the net, is held with its tail up and its snout down the stream, it drowns, 
we understand, almost immediately. This experiment has been often tried, and, 
but that a thump on the head is easier, would be resorted to by piscators, for the 
purpose of putting finny captives to death.— Dumfries Courier. —Were it not 
for the risk of the Salmon escaping, it would be well to drown them all after 
they are taken; for it is a well-known fact that the “ thump on the head” tends 
very much to deteriorate the quality of the fish .—Taunton Courier , March 7, 
1838. 
The Hooper Swan. —Last week a fine specimen of the wild Swan ( Anas 
cygnus') was shot by A. Bosville, Esq., at Thorpe, near Burlington; it was 
seen quarrelling with the tame Swans, and was approached with difficulty.—• 
Doncaster Gazette , Feb. 23, 1838. 
Last week a flock of twelve or thirteen Swans passed over Buncom, and 
alighted in the river. They were very low, and a most beautiful sight to those 
near.— Id., March 2. 
Mr. Reid, of this town, has now under his hands more than a dozen wild 
Swans, which have been shot chiefly in the surrounding neighbourhood, besides 
a great number of other rare birds, of various descriptions, killed during the 
storm.— Id. 
Last week a wild Swan, weighing 221b., and measuring eight feet five inches 
from the extremities of the wings, and five feet from the beak to the tail, was 
shot near Bawtry.— Id. 
Considerable numbers of wild Swans have been shot during the recent winter 
in almost every part of the kingdom, these birds being always comparatively 
abundant with us in long and severe seasons. We have ourselves noticed several 
small flocks in this neighbourhood; and on the night of March 14, two indi¬ 
viduals were observed to attack the tame Swans on the water in Campsall Park. 
The majority of the specimens recently captured doubtless belong to the species 
termed the Hooper or Whistling Swan ( Cygnus ferus , Ray) ; and although we 
have not been positively informed of the occurrence of Bewick's Swan in the 
early part of the present’year, we feel very little doubt but several have visited us, 
and probably at this time ornament the museums of some mere collecting 
naturalists. We shall be happy to receive any notice of the appearance of Cygnus 
BewicJcii, which is at once distinguished from its British congener by being very 
considerably inferior in size.—E d. 
Entomological Notes.*— I have got a Moth from Dover which I cannot make 
