346 ANATID^. 



far as I had an opportunity of observing it, appeared to me 

 to be almost a pure Polander. 



** From what I have just said, mixed broods, or cygnets 

 var^'ing in colour, are just what we might expect ; but so 

 far from this being the case, I never could hear of any 

 variation. Seventy cygnets now in the Swan-pit are as 

 much alike as it is possible for them to be. Mr, Simpson, 

 who has had from seventy to a hundred through his hands 

 yearly for the past thirty years, never saw a white cygnet. 

 From this, I think, we may conclude that, if there is a 

 mixture of blood, the dark colour inherited from the C. olor 

 parent is so strong in the cygnet as not to be appreciably 

 affected by the Polish strain, but that the characters which 

 distinguish the Polish breed assert themselves at a later 

 age." 



"March 12th, 1877. Mr. Gurney tells me the young 

 Polish Swans are now pure white, with the exception of 

 the crown of their heads, and that from one of the two sur- 

 vivors even this small display of colour has nearly dis- 

 appeared " (Tr. Nor. Nat. Soc. ii. pp. 258-260). 



In the adult bird the beak is reddish-orange ; the nail, 

 lateral margins, nostrils, and base of the upper mandible, 

 black ; the peculiarity of the nostril has been noticed ; the 

 tubercle, even in an old male, is usually of small size ; the 

 irides brown ; the head, neck, and the whole of the plumage, 

 pure white; legs, toes, and intervening membranes, slate- 

 grey. 



From the point of the beak to the end of the tail is 

 fifty-seven inches. From the carpal joint to the end of 

 the second quill-feather, which is the longest in the wing, 

 twenty-one inches and a half ; tarsus four inches ; middle 

 toe and liail five inches and three-quarters. 



Its food and habits closely resemble those of the Mute 

 Swan. 



