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The story of St. Hugh’s swan is curious but not incredible. Sir Charles Anderson says: “It seems, from the minute description of the bill, to have been a wild swan or whooper.” This swan was greatly attached to its master, and constantly attended him when in residence at Stow Park, where there was a good deal of water, and many wildfowl. It is said, also, that on his last visit the bird showed signs of restlessness and distress. Sir Charles sees no reason to withhold belief from the story, and instances the case of a gander, within his own knowledge, which attached itself to a farmer in the county, and used to accompany him daily for a mile and a half, when he went to look after his cattle in the meadows, waddling after him with the greatest diligence and satisfaction; and, whenever he stopped, fondling his legs with neck and bill.

The “Magna Vita S. Hugonis” in the Bodleian, written by Adam, Abbot of Evesham soon after his death, is the chief source of our information about him; and a metrical life, also, in Latin, is both in the Bodleian and in the British Museum.