THE BLACK SWAN 



Curious though it may appear, when mere outward 

 look is considered, the gulls come nearest to the Limi- 

 colae than to all other existing groups of birds. The 

 Limicolae is that extensive assemblage of birds which 

 includes the snipes, plovers, and their manifold kindred. 

 One rather singular type of Limicoline (not infrequently 

 to be seen at the Zoo) is an antarctic bird of white 

 plumage, known as Chionis, or in English as sheath-bill. 

 It is an almost ideally intermediate form. It has the 

 aspect and marine habits of a gull ; but in some other par- 

 ticulars agrees more closely with the land representa- 

 tives of this group Limicolae. Another bird, British 

 this time, offers a second bridge to connect the gulls 

 with the plovers and the rest. The phalaropes are apt 

 to be quite gull-coloured in their winter plumage ; a 

 delicate grey upon the back being contrasted with a 

 white under-surface. But the phalaropes have not 

 properly webbed feet like the gulls. The feet are in fact 

 lobate, with expansions of skin at intervals as in the 

 coot. The noises of gulls are varied and cheerful. The 

 " countless laughter of the sea " is due to the hilarious 

 jocularity of many gulls ; one species has been named 

 Larus cachinnaus, the laughing gull. 



THE BLACK SWAN 



It seems to be almost impossible to mention the black 

 swan without quoting Virgil's " rara avis in terris," etc. 

 At any rate, no writer of natural histories has ever avoided 

 this obvious opportunity. There is, however, a kind of 

 appropriateness in finding in Australia a negation of this 

 kind, a sort of topsy-turvydom in colour which hangs 

 together with mammals that lay eggs, with kingfishers 

 that do not fish in streams but upon the dry land, and 

 for reptiles, with weird-looking creatures that are appar- 

 ently rabbits and wolves, but are really neither. The 



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