named " Cygnus Bewickii " by Mr. Yarrell. 129 



describing a new species of swan, named by him Cygnus 

 Bewickii. These remarks are rendered necessary, in order 

 to supply some deficiencies in the paper above named, and 

 that justice may be done to the proper discoverer and ori- 

 ginal describer of this new swan, Mr. R. R. Wingate of this 

 town, who is perhaps one of the best practical ornitho- 

 logists of the present day, and was for many years the inti- 

 mate friend and acquaintance of the highly-talented individual, 

 whose name Mr. Yarrell has so properly connected with this 

 valuable addition to our Fauna. 



It was in the February of 1829, that the original specimen 

 of Cygnus Bewickii was shot near Haydon Bridge in the 

 county of Northumberland ; it came into the possession of the 

 Literary and Philosophical Society here, and was sent to Mr. 

 Wingate to be preserved for the Newcastle Museum. Upon 

 examination he immediately pronounced it to be of a species 

 distinct from the common wild swan or hooper; and fortunately 

 another specimen of the same was already in the possession of 

 the Messrs. Hancock of this town, the peculiarities of the ana- 

 tomical structure of which had attracted their attention, and 

 which upon investigation was found to confirm the views 

 originally taken of the species. So noble a discovery was of 

 course much talked of by the lovers of natural science here ; 

 and a gentleman, who is one of the ornithological curators of 

 the Natural History Society, being in correspondence with 

 Mr. Yarrell, mentioned the circumstance, and pointed out some 

 of the distinctions observed in the new species. To this letter 

 he replied that the differences pointed out, might arise from 

 age, sex, or accidental circumstances, or even error of observa- 

 tion, more likely than that a new species of a bird so conspi- 

 cuous as this should have remained so long undiscovered. Not- 

 withstanding the weight of such an opinion from Mr. Yarrell, 

 Mr.Wingate was not deterred, being confident of his disco- 

 very, but proceeded to draw up a short notice of the new bird 

 for the Natural History Society of this town. In the mean 

 time a new light liad dawned upon Mr. Yarrell, as he subse- 

 quently writes that he was now convinced the bird was of a 

 new species, and proposed the name of Bewickii for it; at the 

 same time liberally offering either to supply Mr.Wingate with 

 such materials as he had been able to collect, or that Mr. Win- 

 gate should supply him, in order that a proper description might 

 be drawn up and published. In reply, he was informed that 

 Mr. Wingate had already drawn up a notice of the bird, and 

 that Mr. Selby, one of the Vice-Presidents of the Society, 

 whose name stands foremost amongst the ornithologists of 

 Britain, had undertaken to describe it. 



N. S. Vol. 8. No. 44. Aug. 1830. S Mr. 



