158 ANSERINE. CYGNUS. 



grey, the feathers margining the forehead and cheeks red- 

 dish. 



Male, 54, 86, 22^, 3J, 4, 4 T V, |. 



This species, common in North America, and first distin- 

 guished and minutely described by Dr Sharpless of Philadel- 

 phia, has not hitherto been observed in Europe. In February 

 1841, I obtained in Edinburgh, through the attention of my 

 friend Mr Mactier, who purchased it for me from a poulterer, a 

 young swan, which, having eighteen feathers in the tail, and 

 being of small size, I supposed to belong to the next species. 

 But, on dissecting it, I found differences indicative of a dis- 

 tinct species, and on comparing its sternum, windpipe, and 

 digestive organs with those of Cygnus Americanus, I found 

 it to belong to that species. It was a young male, of a very 

 pale grey colour, with the head darker. Its dimensions were 

 as follows : 



Length 46J inches ; extent of wings 80 ; wing from flex- 

 ure 20^; tail 5j; bill along the ridge 3 T %; from the joint 

 8-5%; from the eye 4 T 7 ^, its height at the base 1 T \, its breadth 

 near the end Ij, about the middle 1 T 2 ^; tarsus 4; hind toe 

 T V, its claw f \ ; second toe 3 T 7 ^, its claw T \; third toe 4 T 8 ^, 

 its claw T V ; fourth toe 4^, its claw T V 



In the adult the trachea enters the crest of the sternum, 

 extends beyond it, forming a horizontal loop, then returns, 

 enters the thorax to the distance of two inches ; the syrinx less 

 compressed than in Cygnus musicus, being more than half an 

 inch in breadth ; the bronchi an inch and three-fourths long. 



In the young individual mentioned above it entered the 

 cavity in the crest of the sternum to the distance of three 

 inches, forming a vertical loop, then entered the thorax to 

 the distance of two inches ; the bronchi an inch and a half 

 in length. (Esophagus thirty-three inches long ; the gizzard 

 transversely elliptical, four inches and eight-twelfths in 

 breadth ; the intestine eleven feet ten inches in length ; the 

 coeca fifteen inches long ; the rectum ten inches. The head 

 and bill agreed precisely in every respect with a prepared 

 head of a young Cygnus Americanus in my collection. But 

 the very minute details and comparisons on which my opi- 

 nion is founded would occupy too much space here. 



Cygnus Americanus, Dr Sharpless, Amer. Journ. Science 

 and Arts, vol. xxii. Cygnus Americanus, Audubon, Amer. 

 Ornith. Biogr. v. 133. Cygnus Americanus, American Swan, 

 MacGillivray, Brit. Birds, v. 



