Image Title : "Swan Hopping". Swan upping on the Thames, 1875 illustration. "The skiffs belonging to the Queen, the Dyers' Company and the Vintners' Company are identified by their respective flags. The crews, sporting swan feathers in their hats, catch the birds by the neck with their swan-hooks and immobilize them in the boats by tying their feet behind their backs ; marking - or as shown here pinioning - of both adult and immature birds is carried out on the bank." (Description from Arthur MacGregor, "Swan rolls and beak markings. Husbandry, exploitation and regulation of Cygnus olor in England, c. 1100-1900", Anthropozoologica, 1995, vol. 22, p. 41)
Date 1875
Source Henry Robert Robertson (1839 - 1921), Life on the upper Thames, Virtue, Spalding, and co., London, 1875, p. 160.
Author Engraved by Williaw J. Palmer on drawings on wood by Henry Robert Robertson (1839 - 1919 or 1921)
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Life_on_the_upper_Thames_-_swan-upping_(1875).jpg

The mute swan (Cygnus olor) is a species of swan and a member of the waterfowl family Anatidae. Cygnus olor is native to much of Eurasia, and (as a rare winter visitor) the far north of Africa. Cygnus olor is an introduced species in North America, Australasia and southern Africa. The name 'mute' derives from it being less vocal than other swan species.