 A small population of black swans exists on the River Thames at Marlow, on the Brook running through the small town of Dawlish in Devon (they have become the symbol of the town), near the River Itchen, Hampshire, and the River Tees near Stockton on Tees.Described scientifically by English naturalist John Latham in 1790, the black swan was formerly placed into a monotypic genus, "Chenopis".Black swans can be found singly, or in loose companies numbering into the hundreds or even thousands.