120 
observations on a fine example recently shot, as detailed in the 
following note sent to me by Viscount Holmesdale :-— 
Househill, Nairn, N.B., 
Sept. 28th, 1872. 
Dear Mr. Govrp,—I send you a bird which I believe to be a 
Polish Swan. First a pair and then three others came to a wild 
loch by the sea here im the northerly gales we have had lately. 
The keeper took them to be common Whoopers ; and we went out 
yesterday and stalked them. Whoopers they certainly are not ; but 
they answer exactly to the description of the Polish Swan in 
Yarrell: ash-grey legs and feet small; tubercle at base of bill and 
the black of the nostrils well divided from the base. If this is so, 
it may be of interest to you; and Colonel Baillie hopes you will 
accept the bird. If, after all, we are wrong as to the species, it may 
be of interest from the culinary point of view. 
Yours very faithfully, 
HotmesDALe. 
The very fine specimen above alluded to is now mounted in the 
British Muscum; and I have a note on its dissection from Professor 
Owen, who states “the Swan was a young male, testes very small, 
flesh tender and good eating.” 
If the young of this bird j is always white from its downy state 
upwards, it is a remarkable characteristic, and one that will tend 
to confirm the propricty of considering it a species. 
The weight of this individual was 242 lbs. 
ft. in. 
Across the wings, from tip to tip.......5:..5. 4 6 
Total length, from tip of bill to end of tail ...... 4 9 
Tip of pill to corner of the CVesnuc y cto ier be ain koe: 
Tap ct bilito base... tae nc see es Se echaeae 0 4 
Bill deep reddish flesh-colour, with a tolerably well-developed 
knob and broad triangular space between the bill and the eye. 
Breadth of the black space, including the part behind the knob, 
inches. Eye dark brown. 
Feet olive-grey, even to the joints; interdigital membranes 
darker. Length of true tarsi 42 inches; bare space above the 
joint 1} inch; middle toe and nail 64 inches; Dbreadth of the foot 
6j inches. 
Having disposed of the Geese and Swans, we naturally turn to 
the true grass-feeding Ducks, after which will be noticed those spe- 
cies which almost exclusively feed under the surface of the water— 
the Fuliguline «e. 
Subfamily ANATINZZ. 
Genus TAaporna. 
An Old-World group of five or six species. 
