THE WILD SWAN. 



173 



ever, by later naturalists, and even Buftbn and Linnaeus 

 were inclined to consider them as mere varieties ; but 

 in these days, when the importance of anatonncal cha- 

 racters IS fully recognised, they are universally allowed 

 to be distuict. 



So essential indeed is this character that we have no 

 hesitation in admitting a third species, lately described 

 by Mr. Yarrell, as equally distinct from the Hooper 

 and the Tame Swan, although inhabiting the same 

 localities as the former and apparently by no means of 

 unfrequent occurrence. This bird, which had been 

 entirely overlooked bv all systematic ornithologists, is 

 about one third less than the common W ild Swan ; but 

 its trachea, of smaller comparative calibre, passes still 

 more deeply into the cavity of the sternum, at the 

 extremity of which, quitting the keel, it takes a hori- 

 zontal direction, and occupies the posterior flattened 

 portion of the bone. The bronchi or subdivisions of 

 the windpipe are less than half the length of the same 

 parts in the common Hooper. Outwardly the differ- 

 ences 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 bdl, 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 number of the quill-feathers 

 of the tail, which are eighteen in the new species 

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

 of native birds Mi-. Yarrell has applied the name of 

 Bewick's Swan, in commeuioration of an artist whose 

 labours hctve done more to render the study of ornitho- 

 logy popular in this country than the works of any 

 writer that could be named. 



It is proper also to mention that we are indebted to 



