1 l ANATID^,. 



trivial, as merely to incapacitate tliem from flight, were placed in 

 his aquatic menagerie, where, in company with many other species 

 of wild fowl, chiefly Anatidce, they have ever since remained. On 

 March 13, 1830, another specimen of this swan appeared in our 

 market, and was purchased by Richard Langtry, Esq., who has it 

 preserved in his collection.^ 



" On a comparison of the first-mentioned individual with the 

 description of Ci/gnus Bewickii by Mr. Yarrell,t Mr. Selby,t and 

 Sir William Jardine,§ I found the internal structure to agree; 

 but in the external characters there was one important difference, 

 the number of tail-feathers being twenty instead of eighteen, as 

 specified by these distinguished ornithologists. Tliis discrepancy 

 induced me, in February last (1836), to examine Mr. Sinclaire's 

 birds, which I did, with the assistance of that gentleman. These 

 individuals difi^ered from the descriptions above referred to : — In 

 the number of tail-feathers, which in both birds amounted to 

 twenty; II and in their irides, being blackish instead of orange- 

 yellow ; a narrow ring, however, of yellow extends round them.* 

 The feathers on the forehead and region of the eyes, though of a 

 rust-colour when the birds were captured, are now wliite, which 

 colour prevails over the entire plumage. The two preserved 

 specimens also have this rust-colour above the head, but do not, 

 like the immature birds described by Mr. Yarrell, exhibit the 

 least appearance of it on ' the under sm-face of the belly,' this 

 part of the plumage being white ; hence we may conclude that 

 the specimens under consideration were older than those so de- 

 scribed by that gentleman, and that the head of the C. Bewickii 

 retains the reddish plumage for a longer period than the under 

 parts. Mr. Yarrell has correctly remarked that the plumage of 

 this species is 'ultimately pure- white;' but Sir Wm. Jardine 



* The 2ud and 3rd quills in this specimen nre half an inch longer than the 1st 

 and 4th, which are of equal length. 



t ' Linnfean Transactions,' vol. xvi. p. 445 et seq. 



+ ' Illustrations of British Ornithology,' temporary letter-press, p. 119. 



§ Jardine and Selby's ' Illustrations of Ornithology,' part vi. 



II In the ' Fauna Bor. Amer.' (part ii. p. 465), a specimen killed at Igloolik is 

 described as having eighteen tail-feathers, and the irides of an orange-colour. 



