BLACK SWAN. Cygnus atrdtus. 



beautifully with the deep black of the plumage. It is not so elegant in its movements as 

 the white Swan, and holds its neck stiffly, without the easy serpentine grace to which we 

 are so well accustomed in our British Swans. The young are not unlike those of the 

 white Swan, and are covered with a blackish grey down. Dr. Bennett mentions that in 

 the Australian Museum is preserved a white or albino specimen with pink eyes. 



It is a very prolific bird, producing two and sometimes three broods in a season, 

 commencing to breed about October, and ceasing at the middle of January. The nest is 

 like that of the Swan, and the eggs are from live to eight in number, of a pale green, 

 washed with brown. These birds are found in the southern district of Australia and 

 Jamaica, and are sometimes so abundant that Dr. Bennett recollects " a drove of Black 

 Swans being driven up George Street (Sydney) like a flock of geese." 



THE beautiful MANDAKIN DUCK is worthy of heading the true Ducks, for a more 

 magnificently clothed bird can hardly be found when the male is in health and in his 

 full nuptial plumage. 



These bird are natives of China, and are held in such esteem that they can hardly bo 

 obtained at any price, the natives having a singular dislike to seeing their birds pass into 

 the possession of Europeans. " A gentleman," writes Dr. Bennett, " very recently wrote 

 from Sydney to China, requesting some of these birds to be sent to him. The reply was, 

 that from the present disturbed state of China, it would be easier to send him a pair of 

 mandarins than a pair of Mandarin Ducks." This bird has the power of perching, and 

 it is a curious sight to watch them perched on the branches of trees overhanging the 



