AVES ANATID^. 4II 



Mr. J. B. Hatcher in MS. note says: "We observed the Black-necked 

 Swan as an abundant species about the inland waters of the Patagonian 

 plains, it being much commoner than the White Swan." 



"The swans belonged to two distinct species, two of them being 

 examples of the Cygnus nigricollis with white body-plumage and black 

 necks, heads, and bills, the last of which were endowed with a knob of 

 considerable size, at the base ; while the third was a specimen of the 

 Cygnus coscoroba, the entire plumage of which, with the exception of a few 

 black feathers in the wings, was pure white, and the feet and bill pink, 

 the latter being destitute of a knob, and considerably broader and flatter 

 than that of the black-necked species. Both sorts had apparently resorted 

 to Elizabeth Island for breeding purposes, as our party found nests which 

 evidently belonged to them ; and earlier in the season, in the month of 

 October, eggs of one or other species were collected on the island by one 

 of the servants of the governor of Sandy Point. This, I think, was the only 

 occasion on which we met with swans in the Strait, though, a month later, 

 specimens of the C. coscoroba were obtained in the vicinity of the Gallegos 

 river. Both species are noticed by Captain King; and in the journal of 

 Mr. Kirk, who was associated with Lieutenant Skyring in the survey of 

 the Western Channels of Patagonia, I find mention made of islets in the 

 neighbourhood of Obstruction Sound which were covered with immense 

 numbers of 'black-necked swans, mixed with a few which had black-tipped 

 wings.' Both species also occur in South Chili, and in the countries 

 bordering the River Plate. The skinning of one of the individuals of the 

 black-necked species occupied me fully during the 28th, and I ascertained 

 that neither in it nor in the C. coscoroba does a fold of the trachea enter 

 the keel of the sternum." (Elizabeth Island, Straits Magellan, 27th 

 November, 1867.) Cunn. Nat. Hist. Strait of Magellan, 1871, pp. 226-267. 



"The first importation of the Black-necked Swan was affected by the 

 exertions of Admiral Hornby. When this officer was in command on the 

 Pacific station he succeeded in sending home at different periods, to the 

 late Earl of Derby, eight individuals of this species, of which six were 

 living at the dispersion of the Knowsley collection in 1851. The present 

 Earl of Derby presented a pair of those birds to Her Majesty the Queen, 

 and the two remaining pairs passed into the possession of the Zoological 

 Society. They, however, for several seasons made no attempt at repro- 

 duction, and one of them having died, the apparent chance of continuing 



