Forms: 6–7 elke, 7 pl. elkys, 7– elk. The Wild Swan or Hooper (Cygnus ferus). Also the Wild Goose (Anas anser).

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1552.  Huloet, s.v. Swanne, Some take thys to be the elke, or wild swanne.

2

1621.  Markham, Fowling (1655), 6. Such as live of the water & on the water, are wild Swannes, or Elkes, [etc.].

3

1674.  Ray, Water Fowl, 95. The Elk, Hooper, or wild Swan. Ibid. (1691), Local Wds., 129. Elkys, Wild Geese.

4

1709.  Derham, in Phil. Trans., XXVI. 466. Cygnus ferus. The Elk, or Hooper, or Wild Swan.

5

1839.  Proc. Berw. Nat. Club, I. 189. Both of these were of the common or elk species.

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