360 BIRDS OF THE WEST OF SCOTLAND. 



AMERICAN SWAN. 



* 



CYGNUS AMERICANUS. 



THE late Professor Macgillivray, in his ' British Water Birds/ vol. 

 i., pp. 675, 682, mentions having found a specimen of this bird in 

 a poulterer's shop in Edinburgh in February, 1841. It had been 

 shot in the South of Scotland. I can find no other record of its 

 occurrence anywhere in Britain. From its general resemblance, 

 however, to the preceding species, its presence in our western lakes 

 and estuaries may have been overlooked. It would be well, 

 therefore, for those who have time and opportunities at their 

 command, to make a careful examination of all the smaller swans 

 captured during the winter months, especially in the Outer 

 Hebrides a district to which the larger migratory flocks are now 

 almost entirely restricted, since so many changes have been effected 

 through drainage on the mainland. 



The specimen described by Mr Macgillivray is probably now in 

 the British Museum, as I find, on referring to Mr Gr. R Gray's 

 catalogue of British birds, in that collection (London, 1863) the 

 locality given for the specimen is " Edinburgh." 



THE POLISH SWAN. 



CYGNUS IMMUTABILIS. 



I INTRODUCE this swan as a Scottish species, as it has been 

 recorded by Messrs Yarrell and Macgillivray, and also by Sir 

 William Jardine, in their respective works on British birds. The 

 late Mr Yarrell appears to have been the first naturalist to 

 distinguish its characters; and in his account of the species, 

 published originally in the proceedings of the Zoological Society 

 of London, he mentions that "during the severe weather of 

 January, 1838, several flocks were seen pursuing a southern course 

 along the line of our north-east coast from Scotland to the mouth 

 of the Thames," and that "several specimens were obtained." 

 From that time to the present, however, I can find no trace of 

 other specimens having been procured; nor can any of my 

 numerous correspondents state with certainty that they have ever 

 seen the species. 



