BIRDS. 



459 



the species which was said to breed from barnacles, allusion to which was 

 made on a preceding page. Its name in the older spelling was bernacle 

 (a derivative from Hibernia, Ireland) ; and so similar was this to barnacle 

 that the myth arose in all probability from a confusion of names. 



The swans, with their long and gracefully curved necks, are in many 

 respects intermediate between the ducks and the geese. Many of them 

 are semi-domesticated, and are kept on the lakes and ponds of parks, 

 where their beautiful shapes and white wings make them attractive 

 objects. Best known of all are the mute swans of Europe, with dazzling 

 white plumage and scarlet bills. As they glide smoothly along, their 

 necks curved like the letter S, and their wings half expanded, they are 

 worthy of all the words used by poets. 



Our two swans — the whistling and the trumpeter swans — are much 

 alike, each having 

 a peculiar arrange- 

 ment of the wind- 

 pipe, something like 

 that of the cranes, 

 to be mentioned 

 farther on, which 

 gives the voice the 

 peculiar character 

 implied by the com- 

 mon names. These 

 are migratory birds, 

 breeding mostly in 

 the far north, and 

 coming into the 

 United States in 

 winter. The trumpeter is much the larger of the two, and sometimes 

 weighs nearly forty pounds. 



All swans, however, are not white. In South America occurs a species 

 with a black or dark brown head and neck ; while Australia, that land of 

 wonders, furnishes swans entirely black, except the white on the wings 

 and the red and white on the bill. These black swans have been intro- 

 duced into parks along with the common European species. 



Among the more distant relatives of the ducks and geese is the curious 

 horned screamer, or unicorn bird, of South America. In their general 

 appearance they are more like the wading birds. Their legs are long, 

 their feet not webbed; but their internal anatomy settles the question. 

 The best-known species looks something like a rail; but its wings are 



Fig. 389. — Whistling-swan {Cygnus colurnbianus). 



