16 ANATID.'E. 



attempt to molest any of the wild fowl confined in the same pond 

 with them, though all of these are their inferiors in strength and 

 size. Their call, chiefly uttered at the migratory periods, is a low 

 deep-toned whistle once repeated. On the water, the carriage of 

 the Cj/gnus Bewickii is intermediate in its character, between that 

 of the mute swan and common goose. Their necks are not thrown 

 boldly back, nor their wings raised above the body as in the 

 Cygnus olor ; but if they do not exhibit the grace and majesty 

 of this species on the liquid element, they appear to much more 

 advantage on land, where by choice the greater portion of their 

 time is spent. 



" The Museum of the Royal Dublin Society contains a specimen 

 of Bewick's swan, which was shot, in November 1830, in the 

 west of Ireland. It exhibits the rust-colour on the head, in- 

 dicative of immaturity. In the collection of WiUiam Massey, 

 Esq., of the Pigeon-house Port, Dublin, I recognized another 

 bird of tliis species in the immaculate plumage of maturity. 

 This was, along with a second individual, killed by Mr. Massey, 

 out of a flock of five, in Dublin Bay, on the 18th December, 1829. 



" On a fine sheet of water in the demesne of the Marquis of 

 Sligo, at Westport, county of Mayo, in June 1834, I observed a 

 swan of this species, in matui'e plumage, but could not learn any 

 particulars of its capture. On January the 4th, 1836, two 

 ' strings' — as they are called when flying in single file — of wild 

 swans, consisting of twenty-eight birds, were seen at the bog- 

 meadows, near Belfast ; and on the following day, Mr. Wm. 

 Sinclaire saw a string of nineteen flying with extreme slowness 

 from the direction of Belfast Bay to the same place. From their 

 call being, though somewhat hoarser, like that of the individuals 

 in his possession, and from their apparent similarity in size, he 

 was fully satisfied that they were Cygnus BewicFii. In a letter 

 dated February 5, 1 836, Mr. R. Ball mentioned having recently 

 obtained three specimens of this swan. Two of them were shot 

 in the county Fermanagh, the tliird he bought in Dublin market, 

 where another was exposed for sale at the same time. It couhl 

 not be ascertained where the two latter were killed. 



