42 ORNAMENTAL WATERFOWL. 
on the formation of the wind-pipe, described as “very long, bent 
in S-shaped turns through hollows of the breast bone.” Sir John 
Richardson states that this Swan arrives in the spring, and 
frequents fresh-water lakes and rivers ; it is described as a most 
rapid swimmer, shy and cautious, extremely difficult to take, 
scudding before the wind with its wings raised like sails, being 
reckoned, when flying in a gale, to travel at a rate of a hundred 
miles an hour. The weight of a good specimen is about thirty 
pounds—Audubon says thirty-eight pounds, he having kept 
one alive for several years, and which became very tame. Herne 
describes the flesh as excellent eating, resembling young heifer 
beef, and says that one of the enormous eggs is a sufficient meal 
fora man. The Trumpeter, which, like all Swans, pairs strictly, 
makes its nest among reeds, dry grass, and leaves. 
Male.—White, the head and neck occasionally being 
tinged with rusty colour; bill and legs black. 
Female.—Similar. 
Young in feather; bill black, with a patch of light flesh 
colour; feet dull yellow; head reddish; plumage greyish-white. 
Egg.—Four in number, of a chalky-white colour. May— 
July. Incubation, thirty-six days. ‘‘ Whiteish yellow, dashed 
with fawn colour” (Bull, Soc. Nat., Sept., 1884). 
POLISH SWAN. 
(Cygnus immutabilis ). 
This bird derives its name from the persistence of the 
white plumage, the Cygnets being white in first feather. It was 
first identified by Yarrell as a separate species in 1838, 
at which time flocks numbering several score visited both 
Scotland and England from the Baltic Sea, when several 
specimens were shot and submitted to examination ; others have 
