120 ANATID.t:. 



1544, and Sibbald includes it in his Fanna of Scotland, in 

 1684. They were more abundant formerly than at the 

 present time, though still existing in a comparatively wild 

 state on many rivers. The author of the Journal of a Natu- 

 ralist mentions having seen more than forty at one time, on 

 the great swan-pool that some years ago existed near the city 

 of Lincoln, but has been since drained ; and the great swan- 

 nery of the Earl of Ilchester, at Abbotsbury, near the coast 

 in Dorsetshire, is well known. About eighty Swans are there 

 preserved, and as the cygnets are not caught to be marked 

 or pinioned, the interesting sight of several of these fine large 

 birds on the wing together is often witnessed. The water is 

 strictly watched and guarded, and in the season is used as 

 a decoy. 



The adult bird has the nail at the point of the beak, the 

 edge of the mandible on each side, the base, the lore to the 

 eye, the orifice of the nostrils and the tubercle, black ; the 

 rest of the beak reddish orange ; the irides brown ; the head, 

 neck, and all the plumage pure white ; the legs, toes, and 

 interdio-ital membranes black. 



The whole length of an old male is from four feet eight 

 inches, to five- feet; the weight about thirty pounds; and 

 marked Swans have been known to live fifty years. The male 

 is distinguished from the female by being larger ; the black 

 tubercle at the base of the beak is also larger ; the neck is 

 thicker, and the bird swims higher out of the water. The 

 body of the female is smaller ; the neck more slender, and 

 she appears to swim deeper in the water. This latter point 

 is referrible to a well known anatomical law, that females have 

 less capacious lungs than males, and her body therefore is 

 less buoyant. 



The young Mute Swan, in July, has plumage of a dark 

 bluish-grey, almost a sooty grey ; the neck, and the under 

 surface of the body rather lighter in colour ; the beak lead 



