186/.] DR. J. MURIE ON CYGNUS BUCCINATOR. 9 



each case was carefully compared with Yarrell's* and Hincks's 

 figures of C. buccinator and C. passmori respectively. 



First. — In connexion with external characters, I shall give a com- 

 parison of the specimen still alive in the Gardens with Hincks's and 

 Yarrell's descriptions, premising that the two birds which died pre- 

 sented characters perfectly identical with their companion, excepting 

 it may be in their dimensions, which were not taken. 



The specimen under consideration, as a whole, seems to combine 

 some of those characters attributed to C. buccinator, and others 

 more distinctly connecting it with C. jjassmori. The entire body, 

 including wing-feathers, upper part of head, and neck are pure 

 white, and without any admixture of the ferruginous tint on the 

 head and neck said to be constant and characteristic of C. bucci- 

 nator, while it is also wanting in the pale grey of the same parts 

 and fawn-coloured wing-tips of O. passmori. The legs and feet are 

 black, but between the webs of the latter there is a somewhat 

 lighter tinge of the dark hue. The beak is jet-black, as well as the 

 naked skin posterior to it. This black skin only reaches the eye, 

 as shown in the figure taken from the photograph of C. passmori 

 given by Hincks, and not surrounding it, as that author says it does 

 in what he considers the true C. buccinator. 



The contour of the upper mandible, compared with the outline 

 woodcuts in the same paper (/. c. figs. 1 & 2, page 6), appears in- 

 termediate between the concavity of C. passmori and the convexity 

 of his C. buccinator, being rather a straight line than otherwise. 



The weight of the live bird is 20 lb. ; but it must be taken into 

 account that it is in very poor condition, and only recovering from 

 the effects of transport ; nevertheless it is 2 lb. heavier than the 

 specimen of C. passmori, although 10 lb. less than what Hincks 

 gives of C. buccinator ; so that, if in fair condition, it may be assumed 

 that it would attain a medium weight between these two. 



The measurements of the several parts of the body, again, are inter- 

 mediate between the species, or at least greater than in C. passmori, 

 — which the subjoined table illustrates in inches. The first and last 

 columns represent Prof. Hincks's data ; the middle one the specimen 

 which has come under my observation. 



C. passmoi-i. Zool. Soc. sp. C. buccinator. 



Length from tip of beak to end of tail 51 52 (JO 

 of head in line of the meeting 



of mandibles 7\ 7| 9^ 



Distance from the back of the eye to 



tip of beak 5 5| 5| 



between hind point of nostril 



and tip of beak 2 2^ 3 



It is true that Yarrell, in his paper already quoted, gives the di- 

 mensions of C. buccinator as somewhat greater than the above ; but 

 his measurements were taken from a stuffed specimen, while he adds 



* Transactions of the Linnean Society, vol. xvii. ])p. 1-4, tab. 1. 



