98 POLISH SWAN. 



under this name, and we think, considered by Mr. 

 Yarrell as identical with it. The Polish Swan is a 

 large species, measuring fifty-seven inches in length ; 

 the plumage at all ages is pure white, which in 

 fact was the circumstance which first directed at- 

 tention to the bird ; the bill is reddish orange, that 

 colour completely surrounding the nostrils ; the nail, 

 lateral margins, and base, with the space to the eye, 

 are black, and even in a male, known to be eight 

 or nine years old, the tubercle is extremely small ; 

 feet and legs slate grey ; the trachea is without 

 the sternal convolutions. 



Following the birds we have now described, we 

 place the Typical Ducks, or the " River Ducks," 

 as they are termed by Swainson. In these we 

 have continued the easy or ready domestication, 

 as particularly observed in the tame duck and its 

 varieties, springing originally from a wild race still 

 existing ; all the genera also, at least all that have 

 been tried, take at once almost with confinement, 

 and breed readily in that condition. In habits they 

 are fluviatile or palustrine, most of them not com- 

 monly frequenting the sea ; and although they pos- 

 sess great activity on the waters, swimming with 

 ase, and diving to avoid danger, they do not 

 dive in search of food, or live so almost exclu- 

 sively on that element as the Fuligulinae. The bill 

 and tongue are formed upon a plan to search into 

 soft mud, among the roots of aquatic plants, and 

 under the grassy margins of the lakes and rivers, 



