HOOPER OR WILD SWAN. 95 



In the Edinburgh market, and among the poulterers 

 there, a few specimens generally occur during winter, 

 all of which are said to come from the " North." 

 In the time of Mr. Low a few pairs were said to 

 breed in Orkney, but we have been unable to ascer- 

 tain if this still continues. The greater mass mi- 

 grate and incubate in the northern countries of 

 Europe. We have, however, few records of an 

 extra- European range, the American bird being 

 now considered distinct. In confinement to artifi- 

 cial waters, this swan seems very readily to accom- 

 modate itself. In the gardens of the Zoological 

 Society they have repeatedly bred. 



The wild swan is easily distinguished from the 

 last by the want of the knob and black base of the 

 bill. This member is orange-yellow for more than 

 half its length ; the colour extends forward on the 

 edges of the mandible, and forms a lengthened tri- 

 angle of that colour, the apical portion of the bill 

 is black. The plumage is pure white, but on the 

 head, cheeks, and upper part of the neck, is often 

 narrowly streaked with reddish brown ; the young 

 are often of a dull brown ; internally, the trachea 

 forms a convolution inside the keel of the sternum, 

 entering and returning inside of the os furcatorius ; 

 the bronchial divisions are of considerable length. 



