bewick"'s swan. 107 



Icaraed that they alighted on an extensive reservoir near 

 Middleton, belonging to Messrs. Burton and Sons, calico- 

 printers, where they were shot at, and an individual had one 

 of its wings so severely injured that it Avas disabled from ac- 

 companying its companions in their retreat. A short time 

 since, I had an opportunity of seeing this bird, which re- 

 sembled the rest of the flock with which it had been as- 

 sociated, and found, as I had anticipated, that it was precisely 

 similar to the small swan preserved in the museum at Man- 

 chester, which, I should state, was purchased in the fish 

 market in that town, about five or six years ago." 



*' Twenty- nine of these birds congregated together, with- 

 out a single Whistling Swan among them, is a fact so decisive 

 of the distinctness of the species, especially when taken in 

 connexion with those external characters and internal struc- 

 ture in which it differs from the Hooper, that I should no 

 longer have deferred to describe it as a new bird to ornitholo- 

 gists, had I not been anticipated by Mr. Yan-ell." 



" Of the habits and manners of this species, little could 

 be ascertained from a brief inspection of a wounded indivi- 

 dual ; I may remark, however, that when on the water, it 

 had somewhat the air and appearance of a goose, being almost 

 wholly devoid of that grace and majesty by which the Mute 

 Swan is so advantageously distinguished. It appeared to be 

 a shy and timid bird, and could only be approached near by 

 stratagem, when it intimated its apprehension by uttering its 

 call. It carefidly avoided the society of a Mute Swan which 

 was on the same piece of water." 



"On the 28th of February 1830, at half-past ten in the 

 morning, seventy-three swans, of the new species, were ob- 

 served flying over Crumpsall in a south easterly direction, at 

 a considerable elevation. They flew abreast, forming an ex- 

 tensive line, like those seen on the 10th of December, 1829 ; 

 like them, too, they were mistaken for Wild Geese by most 



