132 ANATID.E. 



purchased of Mr. Castang, tlic dealer in birds, whose name 

 was referred to under the article on the Hooping Swan, a 

 pair of these Polish Swans with a young bird of their own 

 brood, and this cygnet was also white. This appeared to be 

 a specific peculiarity worthy of consideration ; the parent 

 birds were remarkable besides, in having the legs, toes, and 

 their intervening membranes of a pale ash-grey colour ; the 

 black tubercle at the base of the beak was of small size, and 

 there is a slight difference in the nostrils, the elongated open- 

 ings of which do not reach the black colour at the base of the 

 beak, on each side, but are entirely surrounded by the orange 

 colour of the beak, as shown in the representation. Unfor- 

 tunately, both the old female and the young bird died in the 

 following winter. The old male, now in his ninth or tenth 

 year, at the least, has but a small tubercle at the base of the 

 beak, and his legs and feet, though a little darker than for- 

 merly, are still of a pale slate grey. This bird has never 

 paired ; and can scarcely be said to associate with any of the 

 Mute Swans on the same water. 



In the months of January and February 1838, Swans of 

 all sorts were more abundant than I ever remember to have 

 seen them, and I have already adverted to the great number 

 of Hoopers and Bewick's Swans which were seen and killed 

 at that season. The more intense the frost, the farther south 

 do the usual winter visiters extend their range ; while new, or 

 very rare species from extreme northern latitudes are occa- 

 sionally obtained. 



During the severe weather of January 1838, several flocks 

 of these Polish Swans were seen pursuing a southern course 

 along the line of our north-east coast, from Scotland to the 

 mouth of the Thames, and several specimens were obtained. 

 The specimen I exhibited, by permission, at the evening 

 meeting of the Zoological Society, belonged to the Rev. L. 

 B. Larking, of Ryarsli Vicarage, near Maidstone, for whom 



