220 DUCK. 



3— MUTE SWAN. 



Anas Olor, Ind. Om. ii. 834. Gm. Lin.u 501, Tern. Man. b2A. Id. Ed. 2d. 830. 



Cygnus maxitnus, Gerin. 553. 



AnasCygnus (mansuetus) Lin. i. 191. Fn. suec. No. 107. /3. Brun. No. 44. Kram. 



338. 2. B. Frisch, t. 152. Bris. vi. 288. Id. 8vo. ii. 438. /?<m, 136. A. 1. 



Will. 271. t. 69. Klein, 128. 1. 

 Der stumme Schwan, Bechst. Deutsch. ii. 559. Id. Ed. 2d. iv. 815. Schmid, p. 145. 



t. 126. 

 Le Cygne, Bvf. ix. p. 3. pi. 1. PI. enl. 913. Get. Uc. Sard. 316. 

 Tame, or Mute Swan, Gen. Syn. vi. 436. Id. Sup. ii. 342. Br. Zool. ii. No. 265. pi. 



60. Id.fol. 149. pi. Add. Id. Ed. 1812. ii. 221. pi. in frontisp. Will. Engl. 



355. pi. 69. Arct. Zool. ii. No. 470. Fl. Scot. i. No. 205. Bewick, ii. pi. in. p. 



277. Cheseld.Ost. Ch.5. — Sceleton. Lin. Trans, iv. 106. pi. xii. f. 3. — the breast 



bone. 



THIS is bigger than the Whistling Swan ; is more than five feet 

 in length, about eight feet in breadth ; and weighs from twenty to 

 thirty pounds, when in good condition. The bill is four inches long, 

 red, with the tip and sides black ; at the base, on the forehead, a 

 callous black knob ; the whole plumage is pure white : the young 

 birds are blackish; in the second year ash-coloured; but in the third, 

 and ever after white ; the legs are dusky ; but sometimes vary more 

 or less to red.* 



This species is found wild in Russia and Siberia, most plentiful 

 in the latter; arrives later from the south, and does not spread so far 

 north. f Those about the provinces of Ghilan and Masenderan, on 

 the south of the Caspian Sea, grow to a vast size, and are esteemed 

 great delicacies. The Mahometans hold them in high estimation. $ 



The female scarcely differs from the male, except in the black 

 knob on the forehead being smaller. Whether it is often met with 

 here in a wild state is not said, but probably it is now and then the 

 case, as our late friend Mr. Boys, in December 1785, shot two at 

 large, the one weighing twenty-one and the other twenty-five pounds. 



* They are said to be red like vermilion. — Bechst. Dr. Plott mentions this Variety, 

 found on the Trent, near Rugeley, Ph. Tr. xvi. p. 210. f Arct. Zool. + lb. 16. 



