566 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1816. 



3. The pied brant weigh about 

 eight and a half pounds, ditfering 

 from the ordinary pied brant in 

 their wings, which are neither so 

 long nor so pointed : the base of 

 the beak is for a little distance 

 white, suddenly succeeded by a 

 narrow line of dark brown : the 

 remainder of the neck, liead, 

 back, wings, and tail, all txcept 

 the tips of the feathers, are of a 

 bluish brown of the common wild 

 goose : the breast and belly are 

 white, with an irregular mixture 

 of black feathers, which give 

 those parts a pied appearance. 

 From the legs, back, underneath 

 the tail, and around its junction 

 with the boily above, the feathers 

 are white : the tail is composed 

 of eighteen feathers, the longest 

 in the centre, and me.isures six in- 

 ches with the banel of the quill : 

 those on the sides of the tail are 

 something shorter, and bend with 

 the extremities inwards towards 

 the centre of the tail : the extre- 

 mities of these feathers are white : 

 the bccik is of a light ash colour : 

 the legs and feet, \\ hich do not 

 differ in structure from those of 

 the goose or l)rant of other spe- 

 cies, aie of an orange colour : the 

 eye is small, the iris of a dark 

 yellowish brown, and pupil black : 

 the note is much the same as that 

 of the common pied brant, from 

 which, in fact, they are not to be 

 distinguished at a distance, al- 

 though they certainly are of a 

 distinct species : the flesh is 

 equally palatable with that of 

 common pied brant. They do 

 not remain here during the winter 

 in such numbers as the bii d above- 

 mentioned : this bird is here de- 

 nominated the jiied brant, on ac- 

 count of the near resemblance. 



and for want of another appella- 

 tion. 



8. The geese ai"e either the 

 large or small kind : the large 

 goose resembles our ordinary wild 

 or Canadian goose ; the small is 

 rather less than the brant, which 

 it resembles in the head and neck, 

 where it is larger in proportion 

 than that of the goose : the beak 

 is thicker and shorter ; the note 

 like that of a tame goose. In all 

 other points it resembles the large 

 goose, with which it associates so 

 frequently, that it was some time 

 before it was discovered to be of 

 a distinct species. 



9. The swans are of two kinds, 

 the large and the small : the large 

 swan is the same common to the 

 Atlantic states : the small differs 

 only from the large in size and in 

 note : it is about one-fourth less, 

 and its note is entirely different. 

 It cannotbe justly imitated by the 

 sound of letters ; it begins with 

 a kind of whistling somid, and 

 terminates in a round full note, 

 louder at the end : this note, is as 

 loud as that of the large species, 

 whence it might be denominated 

 the whistling swan : its habits, 

 colour, and contour, appear to be 

 precisely tliose of the larger spe- 

 cies. These birds were first found 

 below the great narrows of the 

 Columbia, near the Chilluckitte- 

 quaw nation : they are very abun- 

 dant in this neighbourhood, and 

 remained with the party all win- 

 ter, and in number they exceed 

 those of the larger species in the 

 proportion of five to one. 



10. Of ducks, we enumerate 

 many kinds : the duckinmallard, 

 the canvass-back duck, the red- 

 headed fishing-duck, the black 

 and white duck, the little brown 



duck. 



