

THE SWIMMERS. 1 27 



America, extending from South Peru to the Falkland Islands, and from that point along the east coast 

 as far as Santos in Brazil. The residence of these birds varies with the season of the year ; during the 

 spring and autumn they are met with in small parties about Buenos Ayres on their way to their more 

 northern haunts, where they remain throughout the winter, when they return south to breed. During 

 the period of incubation they occupy the lagoons and lakes of the interior, and after that season unite 

 with their own and allied species into large flocks. The flight of this Swan is light and beautiful, but 

 in other respects it is without the grace that characterises most members of this family. While 

 swimming the neck is held erect, after the manner of a Goose. We are without particulars concerning 

 the incubation of these birds, beyond that when first hatched the young are covered with white down, 

 and that they grow with such rapidity that by the autumn they are scarcely distinguishable from their 

 parents. The late Earl of Derby was presented with the first Black-necked Swan ever brought to 

 Europe ; to this were afterwards added seven more. After the death of the Earl two were presented to 

 her Majesty, and the rest consigned to the Zoological Gardens, in the Regent's Park, where they 

 lived for many years without breeding. In 1856, however, a pair commenced a nest, but did not lay 

 until the following year, since which time they have incubated annually. 



THE BLACK SWAN. 



The Black Swan (Cygnus-Chenopsis-atratus) has a slender body, very long neck, and small 

 well-formed head ; the beak nearly equals the head in length, and is without a cere. In this species 

 almost the entire plumage is of a brownish black, lightest on the under side, and shading into blackish 

 grey at the edges of the feathers. This sombre garb is relieved by the brilliant white of the primary 

 and of a considerable portion of the secondary quills. The eyes are scarlet, the bridles red, and the 

 feet black : the beak is carmine-red, tipped with white, a stripe near the extremity of the upper 

 mandible is also white. This bird is not quite so large as the Cygnus olor. The Black Swan is not 

 merely strictly confined to Australia, but inhabits only its southern and western districts, occupying 

 the rivers, estuaries, lagoons, and large pieces of water frequently in large flocks. On arms of the 

 sea, which expand into sheets of shallow water, these birds are especially numerous, as in such 

 localities they are beyond the reach of severe winds or pursuit from the natives. " In the white man, 

 however," says Mr. Gould, " the Black Swan finds an enemy so deadly, that it has been almost, if 

 not entirely, extirpated. One most destructive mode in which this is effected, is that of chasing the 

 birds with a boat at the time they shed their primary quill-feathers, when, being unable to fly, they are 

 soon rowed down and captured." 



The breeding season is from the beginning of October to the middle of January. Mr. 

 Gould procured newly-hatched young, clad in greyish white, at Southport River, on the 31st of 

 December, and took five newly-laid eggs on Flinders' Island on Bass' Straits, on the 13th January. 

 The nest is large, composed of flags and other herbage, and generally placed on an isolated island. 

 The eggs are from five to eight, pale green stained all over with buffy brown, and are four and a half 

 inches long by two and three-quarters broad. The Black Swan is graceful in demeanour, and gentle 

 and harmless unless molested. 



These birds are to be found in most aviaries in Europe, but as an instance of their most 

 successful rearing, Mr. Gould gives us the following account of some of them kept on the Wandle, at 

 Carshalton, Surrey, by Mr. S. Gurney : — " They were purchased from Baker, Leadenhall Market, in 

 1851, but did not breed till 1854, when they laid their first egg on January 1. It was a most severe 

 winter, snow on the ground, and intense frost nearly the whole time they were sitting. They hatched 

 their young during the greatest cold of that winter, from which they did not suffer, though they had 

 no shelter of any kind, and their nest was fully exposed to the east wind. Out of the ninety-three 



