Page:The Zoologist, 3rd series, vol 1 (1877).djvu/472

446 Merkemore, Cotmore, etc., that the king hath geven al Swannes in the said waters late apperteynyng to the Marques Dorset and Sir Giles Dawbeney uowe in the kinges handes by reason of theire forfaictures, to my lord priue seale, geuen at Westm' the ix day of May anno ijdo." The date of this early note is probably 1485. Add. MS. 4977 is entitled "a book of the marks of Swans, with the names of the gentlemen who have right to make use of them," It is an oblong octavo in vellum, with an alphabet of names prefixed, and a large series of marks. It appears to have been written in the fifteenth century, but has several additions of a later period. The two swords which are given as a lung's mark in Eg. MSS. 2412, 2413, here figure as that of the Duke of Lancaster, a title which merged into the crown in 1399. Add. MS. 6301 is a fine large quarto in vellum, of twenty-eight folios, with fifteen marks on either side of the leaf. The two marks of the king are here styled—the first, "for the Crown," being a rude representation of that emblem; the second or Lancaster mark, "for the Sworde." There is an index at the end of this manuscript, and at the beginning some curious notes of Swans that "I have marked," " Swans sould this yeare of our lor 1628," and "The order for Swans," a collection of rules and observances with regard to the keeping and marking of these birds, with the penalties for infringement. The Harley MS. 3405 resembles this MS. very closely, but with occasional variations. Add. MS. 6302 is another vellum book, in octavo size., apparently of the time of Henry the Eighth; the king here has three marks allotted to his Swans. Some remarks by Sir J. Banks upon the age of the book are prefixed. Add. MS. 23782 is entitled "The orders for Swanne Bots by the Statutes and by the Auncient Orders and Customs used in the Realm of England," a vellum roll of the seventeenth century; followed by the Swan-marks used by the proprietors of lands on the rivers Yare and Waveney, co. Norfolk. Some of these are drawn vertically instead of on the more usual horizontal plan, and the greater number are rudely painted in red and black pigments. MS. Lansdowne 118 contains at folio 80 a list of "Swannes marked ye xii of June, 7° E. 6, 1553," in the handwriting of William Cecil, Lord Burghley. Harley MS. 4116 gives, at p. 403, a curious note respecting the transfer of a Swan-mark in 1662. Some further illustrations of this peculiar custom may be seen by reference to the Classed Catalogue of Manuscripts in the British Museum; and a careful collation of the marks, with a view to publication, would reward the student of English manners and customs.—From 'The Atheneum, '  18th August, 1877.

—A few weeks ago I received a Bewick's Swan which had been shot two years previously on a dam at Wadsley, near Sheffield. It was seen in that neighbourhood in March, 1875, and was supposed to have strayed from an ornamental