﻿68 ANAT1D.E. 



later in the day the bargeman of a barge that was coming 

 from Staines, inquired of Mr. Phillips, if he had seen ten 

 large Black Geese fly over ; and on the Monday one was 

 seen again between Staines and Laleham, swimming in a 

 wide part of the river. On Tuesday the fourteenth of No- 

 vember, Mr. Phillips, on seeing one of these birds settle on 

 the river, went to tell Taylor that he might have a shot ; and 

 consequently, the person in question, after creeping on hands 

 and knees across the muddy mead and through a bed of 

 osiers, came near enough to the bird, and killed it. We 

 purchased the prize for the purpose of figuring it in our 

 work, particularly as we were on the point of bringing out that 

 family in our succeeding numbers ; and the bird is now in 

 our possession. 



In the course of the same week, travelling to town by the 

 South Western Railway, we met a gentleman, who told us 

 that two Black Swans had been killed by a poor man in the 

 neighbourhood of Gravesend on the Thursday previous, 

 and that they were sold in Gravesend market at the same 

 time with several hoopers. 



The bird in our possession is a young male; its flesh was 

 brown, tender, and palatable. 



The measurements from the tip of the beak to the tip of 

 the tail, four feet ; expanse of the wings five feet six inches ; 

 its weight nine pounds. 



The beak measured from the tip to the gape, two inches 

 and three-quarters; from the tip to the front corner of the 

 eye, three inches five-eighths ; depth of the beak at its base, 

 one inch and a quarter; the wing, from the carpus to 

 the tip, eighteen inches and a half; the quills extend 

 one inch and a half beyond the tertials ; the tail one 

 inch and a half beyond the tips of the wings ; from the tip 

 of the beak to the junction of the neck and back-bone, 



