•lOS HISTOiiV OF 



effort ; " when it proudly rows in state," as Miltoi) has it, 

 " with arched neck, between its white wings mantling," there is 

 not a more beautiful figure in all nature. In the exhibition of 

 its form, there are no broken or harsh lines, no constrained or 



veiy obvious ; but, trivial as thoy appear, tlu'y are uniform and constant. 

 The Ijili of the present species is entirely destitute of protuberance at its base, 

 and its colours are in a great degree reversed, the black occupying the point 

 aud nearly the whole of the bill, its base alone and the spaces extending from 

 it beneath the eyes being of a bright yellow. The legs are black or dusky ; 

 the iris brown ; and the entire plumage, as in the other species, pure white, 

 but with an occasional tinge of yellowish gray. The young pass through 

 similar gradations of colour with those of the tame swan, and arrive, like 

 them, at their perfect plumage about the third or fourth year. 



Slight as are these outward differences, they are fully sufficient for the 

 detection of the species ; and the separation founded upon them receives 

 ample confirmation from anatomical characters of the highest unportance. 

 Not to speak of the difference in the number of their ribs, whicli are twelve 

 in the wild Swan, and eleven only in the tame, their tracheae or windpipes 

 afford unquestionable evidence of their distinctness. Ray \\as the first to 

 point out this marked distinction between the two birds, which had previ- 

 ously been regarded as doubtful species. It was neglected, however, by 

 later naturalists, and even Buffon and Linnaeus were inclined to consider 

 thera as mere varieties ; but in these days, when the importance of anato. 

 mical characters is fully recognised, they are universally allowed to be dis- 

 tinct. 



A third species, lately described by Mr Yarrell, is equally distinct from the 

 hooper and the tamo swan, although inhabiting the same localities as the 

 former, and apparently by no means of unfrequent occurrence. This bird, 

 which had been entirely overlooked by all systematic ornithologists, is about 

 one third less than the common wild swan ; but its trachea, of smaller com. 

 parative calibre, passes still more deeply into the cavity of the sternum, at 

 the extremity of which, quitting the keel, it takes a horij.ontal direction, 

 and occupies the posterior flattened portion of the bone. Ihe bronchi or 

 subdivisions of the windpipe are less than half the length of the same parts 

 in the common hooper. Outwardly the differences between the two birds 

 are even less strongly marked than those which distinguish the wild and 

 tame swans from each other ; consisting principally in the deep orange 

 colour of the base of the bill, which is confined to a more limited space than 

 the yellow on the same part in the hooper, and does not advance upon the 

 sides ; and in the niunber of the quill-feathers of tiie tail, which are eighteen 

 in the new species and twenty in the old. To this fine addition to our list of 

 native birds Mr Varrell has applied the name of Bewick's Swan, in com- 

 memoration of an artist whose labours have done so much to render the 

 study of ornithology popular iu this country. 



In habits the Wild Swan bears a close resemblance to the Tame. It fiii'S 

 with so much rapidity, especially when sailing before the wind, that the 

 difficulty of shooting it is extremely great. Hearne asserts th^it it is " fre- 

 quently necessary to take a sight ten or twelve feet before their bills ;" aiui 

 adds that' "in a brisk gale, they cannot fly at a less rate than a hundied 



