WHISTLING S W A N, ^ I4t 



LVII. DUCK. Gen. Birds, XCI. 



Br. Zool. ii. N° 264. — Anas Cygnus ferus. Swan, /*««». Suec. N» 107. — 469. Whistliijo 

 Latham, iii. —Lev. Mus. Swan. 



DWith the lower part of the bill black ; upper part, and fpace 

 • between that and the eyes, covered with a naked yellow fkin : 

 eye-lids naked and yellow : whole plomage pure white : legs black. 

 Length, to the tip of the tail, four feet ten. Extent feven feet 

 three. Weight from thirteen to fixteen pounds. 



Thefe birds inhabit the northern world, as high as Iceland, and as Place, 



low as the foft climate o( Greece, or of Lydia, the modern Anatolia, in 

 JJta Minor : it even defcends as low as Egypt *. They fwarm, dur- 

 ing fummer, in the great lakes and marflies of the Tartarian and 

 Sibirian defarts ; and refort in great numbers to winter about the 

 Cafpian and Euxine feas. Thofe of the eaftern parts of Sihiria retire 

 beyond Kamtfchatka, either to the coafts of America, or to the ifles 

 north of Japan. In Sihiria, they fpread far north, but not to the 

 ArElic circle. They arrive in Hudfon's Bay about the end of May : 

 breed in great numbers on the fhores, in the iflands, and in the in- 

 land lakes ; but all retire to the fouthern parts of North America in 

 autumn, even as low as Carolina and Louijiana. Mr. Law/on, who 

 was no inaccurate obferver, fays, that there were two forts in Carolina: 

 the larger is called, from its note, the Trumpeter. Thefe arrive in 

 great flocks to the frefli rivers in winter; and, in February, retire to 

 the great lakes to breed: the lefler are called Hoo^fw, and frequent 

 moftly the fait water. The Cygnets are efteemed a delicate difli. 

 The Indians of Louijiana make diadems for their chieftains with the 

 large feathers : the lefler are woven into garments for the women of 

 rank. The young of both fexes make tippets of the unplucked fkin. 



* Catejby, App. ixxvi. — Laiv/oa, 146. — Du Pralx, ii. 78. 



They 



