Word: swanherds
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Dates: during 1929-1929
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...swans are extremely aggressive. They can bite and they can kick. They can buffet with their bony wings hard enough to break a man's arm. Yet they must be caught and securely tied in the bottom of the boat before the cygnets can be nicked. To a Swanherd a male swan is not a cock swan, or a drake swan, or even a bull swan: he is a "cob." The female is a "pen." Swift examination shows which is the cob, which the pen. Then the Swanmasters, with pecked fingers (and sometimes with pecked noses) divide the young...
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