TRANSACTIONS 
OF 
THE LINNEAN SOCIETY, 
L Description of the Organ of Voice in a new Species of Wild Swan (Cygnus 
Buccinator, Richardson). By Wi.t1am YannELL, Esq., F.L.S. & Z.S. 
Read March 20th, 1832. 
I AM indebted to the liberality and kindness of Dr. Richardson for an 
example of the sternum and trachea of a new species of wild swan, the Cygnus 
Buccinator of the Fauna Boreali- Americana, Part II., of Mr. Swainson and 
Dr. Richardson; a work in ornithology unexampled for beauty of illustration 
and accuracy of detail. 
The possession of this valuable and probably unique specimen affords me 
an opportunity of placing before the members of the Linnean Society the 
following description and drawing. 
The interesting variations which will be observed in the organ of voice in 
this newly discovered species, as compared with the same parts in other 
known swans, is an additional proof of the value of internal evidence as de- 
cisive of specific distinction; and it is particularly worthy of notice, that as 
the shape and colour of the beak ; the number of the tail-feathers ; the course 
of the tube of the trachea within the cavity of the sternum ; and the form 
of the bronchiz ;—from the modifications observed in them all ;—have been 
considered satisfactory as establishing the claim of Cygnus Bewickii to rank 
as a species distinct from the Hooper: the same parts, external as well as 
VOL. XVII. B 
