SWAN 931 
Thus much having been said of the bird which is nowadays 
commonly called Swan, we must turn to other species, and first to 
one that anciently must have been the exclusive bearer in England 
of the name. This is the Whooper, Whistling or Wild Swan! of 
modern usage, the Cygnus musicus or C. ferus of most authors, which 
was doubtless always a winter-visitant to this country, and, though 
nearly as bulky and quite as purely white in its adult plumage, is 
at once recognizable from the species which has been half domesti- 
cated by its wholly different but equally graceful carriage, and its 
bill—which is black at the tip and lemon-yellow for a great part of 
its base. This entirely distinct species is a native of Iceland, 
eastern Lapland and northern Russia, whence it wanders southward 
in autumn, and the musical tones it utters (contrasting with the 
silence that has caused its relative to be often called the Mute 
Swan) have been celebrated from the time of Homer to our own. 
ago and more that certain Swans on the Trent had white Cygnets; and it was 
subsequently observed of such birds that both parents and progeny had legs of a 
paler colour, while the young had not the ‘‘blue bill” of ordinary Swans at the 
same age that has in some parts of the country given them a name, besides offer- 
ing a few other minor differences. These being examined by Yarrell, led him to 
announce (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1838, p. 19) the birds presenting them as forming a 
distinct species, C. ¢mmutabilis, to which the English name of ‘‘ Polish” Swan 
had already been attached by the London poulterers. There is no question so 
far as to the facts; the doubt exists as to their bearing in regard to the validity 
of the so-called ‘‘species.” Though apparently wild birds, answering fairly to 
the description, occasionally occur in hard winters in Britain, north-western 
Europe and even in the south-east (Zbzs, 1860, p. 351), their mother-country has 
not yet been ascertained,—for the epithet ‘‘ Polish” is but fanciful,—and most 
of the information respecting them is derived only from reclaimed examples, 
which are by no means common. Those examined by Yarrell are said to have 
been distinctly smaller than common Swans, but those recognized of late years 
are as distinctly larger. The matter requires further investigation, and it may 
be remarked that occasionally Swans, so far as is known of the ordinary stock, 
will produce one or more Cygnets differing from the rest of the brood exactly in 
the characters which have been assigned to the so-called Polish Swans as specific 
-—namely, their white plumage slightly tinged with buff, their pale legs and 
flesh-coloured bill (Zool. 1887, p. 463 ; 1888, p. 470). It may be that here we 
have a case of far greater interest than the mere question of specific distinction, 
in some degree analogous to that of the so-called Pavo nigripennis before 
mentioned (PEACOCK, pp. 699, 700). The most recent authorities on the Polish 
Swan are Stevenson (B. Worf. iii. 111-121), and Southwell (Zrans. Norf. & Norw. 
Nat. Soc. ii. pp. 258-260), as well, of course, as Dresser (B. Hur. vi. pp. 429-433, 
pl. 419, figs. 1, 2). Gerbe, in his edition of Degland’s Ornithologie Européenne 
{ii. p. 477), makes the amusing mistake of attributing its name to the 
‘* fourreurs” (furriers) of London, and of rendering it ‘‘ Cygne du pile” ! 
1 In some districts it is called by wild-fowlers ELK (p. 194), cognate with the 
Icelandic 4Zft and the Old German Zibs or Elps (cf. Gesner, Orn. pp. 358, 359), 
though by modern Germans Zlb-schwan seems to be used for the preceding 
species. 
