POLISH SWAN. 341. 



brood, which was white. This appeared to be a specific 

 peculiarity worthy of consideration ; the parent birds were 

 remarkable besides in having the legs, toes, and their inter- 

 vening membranes of a pale ash-grey colour; the black 

 tubercle at the base of the beak was of small size ; and the 

 elongated openings in the nostrils did not reach the black 

 colour at the base of the beak, on each side, but were 

 entirely surrounded by the orange colour of the beak, as 

 shown in the representation. Unfortunately, both the old 

 female and the young bird died in the following winter. 

 The old male had but a small tubercle at the base of the 

 beak, and his legs and feet, though a little darker than 

 formerly, continued of a pale slate-grey. This bird did not 

 pair, and could scarcely be said to associate with any of the 

 Mute Swans on the same water.* 



In the severe weather of January and February, 1838, 

 Swans of all sorts were unprecedentedly abundant; and several 

 specimens were obtained out of flocks of these Polish Swans 

 which were seen pursuing a southern course along the line 

 of our north-east coast, from Scotland to the mouth of the 

 Thames. The specimen which the Author exhibited at the 

 evening meeting of the Zoological Society, belonged to the 

 Eev. L. B. Larking, of Ryarsh Vicarage, near Maidstone, and 

 was one of four shot on the Medway, near Snodland Church, 

 where a flock of thirty and several smaller flocks were seen. 



The circumstance of these flocks being seen without any 

 observable difference in the specimens obtained, all of which 

 were distinct from our Mute Swan ; the fact also that the 

 cygnets, so far as then observed, were of a pure white colour, 



* About 1852, the tbirteentli Earl of Derby having only a female of the 

 Polish Swan, and the Ornithological Society still possessing their solitary old 

 male, the latter was sent to Knowsley, to form a pair. Four cygnets were pro- 

 duced, which were white when hatched, and remained so. At the sale of the 

 Knowsley collection the two old birds were purchased by Mr. Bartlett for the 

 Ornithological Society, and placed on the lake in St. James's Park. They pro- 

 duced a brood of seven cygnets in the summer of 1854, and another of six in 

 1855, which were all white from the egg. A male Polish Swan paired with a 

 Mute Swan at Knowsley, and a brood was produced. A Polish Swan also paired 

 with a Mute Swan on the waters in the Phoenix Park devoted to the use of the 

 Dublin Zoological Society. 



