94 On the Occurrence of some of the Rarer Sjpecies of Birds 



Gygnus Immuiahilis. " The Polish Swan." This fourth species 

 of Swan is a great rarity amongst us ; though it also may possibly 

 have been now and again overlooked until of late years. It closely 

 resembles the Mute Swan in appearancCj though it is not so heavy a 

 bird. The beak, again, is one of the best marks of distinction ; there 

 being a clear space of orange colour round the nostril in the Polish 

 Swan, whereas in the Mute the nostril is surrounded by a band of 

 black, which connects it with the protuberance at the base of the bill. 

 But there is another reliable distinction between them, as its classical 

 name signifies, which is, that the Cygnets of the Polish Swan are 

 white from their birth, instead of their donning the dull grey colour 

 which is the well-known characteristic of the young of Cygnus Olor. 

 There is one undoubted occurrence of these birds on our south coast, 

 Mr. T. M. Pike having shot two of them at Poole on January 2'ith, 

 1883. These specimens I have examined in Hart's Museum. There 

 is a nice bird, also, of this species in the collection of Mr. E^Jacob, 

 in the Close, Salisbury, which he killed on Lock Stenness, in the 

 Orkneys, in 1881, He writes me: — " The Polish Swan I shot in 

 December, 1881, on Loch Stenness in the Orkney Islands. I have 

 also shot on this same loch both the Whooper and Bewick Swans. 

 The loch is mentioned in Yarrell as being one of the few places in 

 Great Britain where in his time the wild Swans habitually bred.'* 



Tadorna Casarca. " The Ruddy Sheldrake." We come now to 

 the large family of the Duck tribe, at the head of which the'present 

 species may be mentioned; but it is a great rarity. It is a largish 

 bird, measuring as much as twenty-eight inches. I can only hear 

 of one specimen having been procured, which Mr. Hart informs 

 me was killed at Bryanston, Dorset, during the winter of 1776. 

 The long period occurring since, without any other mention of the 

 species being possible, sufiiciently testifying to its rarity. 



Tadorna Cornufa. " The Common Sheldrake." In this bird we 

 find one of the very handsomest of all the Duck tribe; its bold 

 colouring of black, white, and orange, with its crimson bill, and 

 green reflections on the head, ajffording the most striking and 

 pleasing contrast. I remember one, a Duck, being shot on our 

 river here some years ago by the keeper, which came into my 



