Birds. 1327 



weed would be insufficient for such purpose. It seems to me that Mr. Slaney has ei- 

 ther misunderstood the point at issue between us, a suspicion not diminished by the 

 perusal of his notes (Zool. 877), or that he has, as M. Deby seems to think, " formed 

 his opinions " " too hastily." I shall say nothing on the former supposition : and on 

 the second, I would ask him to consider, first, the facts I have produced. And I will 

 add here, that of dozens of moorhens that I have seen submerged, together with not a 

 few coots, I have never seen one submerged where there were not weeds. Let him con- 

 sider next the argument to the effect that if the bird maintains its position of submer- 

 gence by the means he asserts it does, it ought, by every law, and for every reason, to 

 sink instead of to float, when shot in its submerged state, and made considerably hea- 

 vier by the pellets of lead lodged in it. Let him consider, thirdly, the reasoning of M. 

 Deby, (Zool. 1255). Let him, in the fourth place, recollect that a bird never sinks 

 when dead, and although saturated with water as to its feathers, and filled with water 

 as to its lungs, and the other cavities of its body to which the water can penetrate. 

 And fifthly, let him not forget that the lungs of a submerged bird always contain a 

 certain portion of air. Kespiration goes on as usual during the period of submergence ; 

 for the beak, though only the beak, is always above water. And consequently it must 

 be a marvellously unaccountable power, of whatever kind, by which the bird succeeds, 

 with instant volition, in making its body, with such an air-filled cavity, still all but 

 equally heavy with water. And lastly, he will have to account for the circumstance 

 that the moorhen does not oscillate in its suspension in fluid, as man does, during the 

 process of respiration : when, this instant, the body expands with the inspiration, and 

 therefore becomes specifically lighter, and the next contracts with expiration, and 

 therefore becomes specifically heavier ; and consequently alternately rises and falls. I 

 think if Mr. Slaney will take the trouble to get a clear view of the point I contend for, 

 and attentively to consider these six or seven particulars of fact or argument, he will 

 feel himself constrained to abandon his position as untenable; supposing that position 

 to be, that a moorhen can maintain itself in a state of total (and not partial) submer- 

 gence, as above defined, without the aid of external substances, whether grasped by 

 the feet, or otherwise acting. — J. C. Atkinson ; Scarborough, March 21, 1846. 



Note on Cygnus atratus. I was much surprised at a note of Mr. King's, which has 

 lately appeared in the 'Zoologist' (Zool. 1214), in which, while attempting to dis- 

 prove as fabulous the "singing of swans of the ancients" he makes the very subject of 

 his problem a bird with which the " ancients " were not acquainted. It was my first 

 intention merely to have answered him in a few words, but the subsequent inquiries 

 which I have made, have enabled me to draw up more copious observations, which I 

 think are of sufficient interest to be given at length. Surely Mr. King must be aware 

 that the singing of the Cygnus atratus, which he has so elaborately proved, and of 

 which he feels " called upon to act as the champion," has nothing whatever to do with 

 the " singing of swans of the ancients." The Cygnus atratus was a bird totally un- 

 known to them. Their idea of a black swan, as we shall shortly see, was just as ima- 

 ginary as it was of a white crow. If Mr. King is a native of Australia, he cannot pos- 

 sibly be ignorant that the black swan is not only his own, but exclusively his own, 

 countryman. It was first discovered in New Holland about the year 1698. In La- 

 tham's ' History of Birds,' published in 1824, I read the following particulars. " The 

 first mention of it was made in a letter from Mr. Witsen to Dr. M. Lister, about the 

 year 1698, which says, here is returned a ship, which, by our East India Company, was 

 sent to the South Land, called Hollandia Nova ; and adds, that black swans, parrots 



