Bewick's swan. 197 



uncertainty hangs on the precise number of years to 

 which they attain. Some content themselves with 

 stating this period at thirty years ; while others^ adopt- 

 ing more marvellous reports, assert that there are many 

 authenticated instances of swans living to the age of 

 a century. The former may be believed ; but the latter 

 seems all but incredible. 



Bewick's Swan. 



Cygnus jBewickii, YarrelL (Fig. 30.) 



Cygnus Bewickii, Li/ni. Trans, xvi. 44 f;. 



30 vx j^pr^^ f 



Until within these few years it was never suspected 

 that, among the wild swans inhabiting our islands, there 

 were two distinct species, confounded by all systematic 

 writers under one name ; or that this second species, to 

 which the name of Bewick has been so justly attached, 

 was also a native of Arctic America. In the Journal of 

 Lewis and Clarke, it is more than probable that the 

 .small swan alluded to in the following extract, refers to 

 that now before us : — '' The swans are of two kinds ; the 

 large and the small. The large swan is the same as the 

 one common in the Atlantic States ; the small diflPers 

 from the large only in size and note ; it is about one 

 fourth less, and its note is entirely different. These 

 birds were first found below the great narrows of the 

 Columbia, near the Chilluc-keti-quaw nation ; they are 

 o 3 



