BEWICK’S SWAN. 159 
of its eggs. Many pairs build in the same vicinity, but 
each pair maintain the right of private property for the 
time being in their own more immediate abode. 
Male; length, three feet ten inches to four feet; bill, black, 
except only the inner portion of the upper mandible extending 
back to the eye, which is orange yellow: in old birds a 
knob arises at the base. Iris, dark chesnut. The yellowish 
rust-colour on the head and neck appears in some individuals 
of this species also. Otherwise the head, crown, neck, nape, 
chin, throat, breast, and back, are white. 
The wings reach in expanse to the width of from six feet 
to six feet three inches: the second and third feathers are 
longer than the first and the fourth. Greater and_ lesser 
wing coverts, primaries, secondaries, tertiaries, greater and 
lesser under wing coverts, tail, of twenty feathers, wedge-shaped, 
and the tail coverts, white. Legs and toes, dull black; webs, 
dull black. 
The young, the first year, are greyish brown. In the 
second year, the bill is pale yellow over the base; iris, 
orange. The head and the breast are much tinged with 
red rust-colour; on the latter it wears off soonest. The 
young, according to Yarrell, have only eighteen feathers in 
the tail, and Selby gives this number to the adult; the 
point might therefore be considered as ‘adhuc sub judice,’ 
but the former statement seems the correct one. 
