See also:SWAN (A. S. swan and swan, Icel. svanr, Du. zwaart, Ger. Schwan)
, a large See also:swimming-See also:bird, well known from being kept in a See also:half-domesticated See also:condition throughout many parts of See also:Europe, whence it has been carried to other countries
.
In See also:England it was far more abundant formerly than at See also:present, the See also:young, or cygnets,' being highly esteemed for the table, and it was under especial enactments for its preservation, and regarded as a " bird royal " that no subject could possess without See also:licence from the See also:Crown, the granting of which licence was accompanied by the condition that every bird in a See also:game " (to use the old legal See also:term) of swans should See also:bear a distinguishing See also:mark of owner-See also:ship (cygninota) on the See also:bill
.
Originally this See also:privilege waa conferred on the larger freeholders only, but it was gradually extended, so that in the reign of See also:Elizabeth upwards of 90o distinct See also:swan-marks, being those of private persons or corporations, were recognized by the royal swanherd, whose See also:jurisdiction extended over the whole See also:kingdom
.
It is impossible here to enter into further details on this subject, interesting as it is from various points of view .2 It is enough to remark that all the legal See also:protection afforded to the swan points out that it was not indigenous to the See also:British Islands, and indeed it is stated (though on uncertain authority) to have been introduced to England in the reign of See also:Richard Coeur de See also:Lion; but it it now so perfectly naturalized that birds having the full See also:power of See also:flight remain in the See also:country
.
There is no See also:evidence to show that its See also:numbers are ever increased by See also:immigration from abroad, though it is known to breed as a See also:wild bird not farther from the British shores than the extreme See also:south of See also:Sweden and possibly in Den-mark, whence it may be traced, but with considerable vacuities, in a south-easterly direction to the valley of the See also:Danube and the western See also:part of
.
Central See also:Asia
.
In Europe, however, no definite limits can be assigned for its natural range, since birds more or less reclaimed and at See also:liberty See also:consort with those that are truly wild, and either induce them to See also:settle in localities beyond its boundary, or of themselves occupy such localities, so that no difference is observable between them and their untamed brethren
.
From its breeding-grounds, whether they be in See also:Turkestan, in south-eastern Europe or Scania, the swan migrates southward towards See also:winter, and at that See also:season may be found in See also:north-western See also:India (though rarely), in See also:Egypt, and on the shores of the Mediterranean
.
The swan just spoken of is by some naturalists named the See also:mute or tame swan, to distinguish it from one to be presently mentioned, but it is the swan simply of the See also:English See also:language
1 Here, as in so many other cases, we have what may be called the " table-name " of an See also:animal derived from the See also:Norman-See also:French; while that which it See also:bore when alive was of See also:Teutonic origin
.
2 The See also:- KING
- KING (O. Eng. cyning, abbreviated into cyng, cing; cf. O. H. G. chun- kuning, chun- kunig, M.H.G. kiinic, kiinec, kiinc, Mod. Ger. Konig, O. Norse konungr, kongr, Swed. konung, kung)
- KING [OF OCKHAM], PETER KING, 1ST BARON (1669-1734)
- KING, CHARLES WILLIAM (1818-1888)
- KING, CLARENCE (1842–1901)
- KING, EDWARD (1612–1637)
- KING, EDWARD (1829–1910)
- KING, HENRY (1591-1669)
- KING, RUFUS (1755–1827)
- KING, THOMAS (1730–1805)
- KING, WILLIAM (1650-1729)
- KING, WILLIAM (1663–1712)
king and the Companies of Dyers and Vintners still maintain their swans on the See also:Thames, and a yearly expedition is made in the See also:month of See also:August to take up the young birds—thence called " swan-upping " and corruptly " swan-hopping "—and mark them
.
The largest swannery in England, indeed the only one worthy of the name, is that belonging to See also:Lord See also:Ilchester, on the See also:water called the See also:Fleet, lying inside the Chesil See also:Bank on the See also:coast of See also:Dorset, where from 700 to See also:double that number of birds may be kept—a stock doubtless too See also:great for the See also:area, but very small when compared with the numbers that used to be retained on various See also:rivers in the country
.
The swanpit at See also:Norwich seems to be the only See also:place now existing for fattening the cygnets for the table—an expensive See also:process, but one fully appreciated by those who have tasted the results
.
The English swan-See also:laws and regulations have been concisely but admirably treated by See also:Serjeant See also:Manning (See also:Penny Cyclopaedia, See also:xxiii
.
271, 272)
.
notable power, but it is by his representations of the larger wild animals, mainly the felidae, that he chiefly established his reputation; in this See also:branch of practice he has scarcely a See also:rival
.
His picture " The Prodigal Son," bought for the See also:Chantrey collection in 1889, is in the See also:National See also:Gallery of British See also:Art
.
He was awarded first class See also:gold medals for See also:painting and See also:sculpture in the See also:Paris See also:Exhibition, 19oo
.
He died on the 14th of See also:February 191o
.
See SCULPTURE; " The See also:Work of J
.
M
.
Swan," by A
.
L
.
Baldry, in The Studio, vol. xxii.; and Drawings of See also:John M
.
Swan, R.A
.
(See also:George Newnes, Ltd.)
.
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