duck. 223 



This bird feeds on both fish and herbage, and is long lived, not 

 unfrequently arriving at 100 years; no wonder therefore, that the 

 flesh of the old ones is hard, and ill tasted, but that of the young birds 

 is much esteemed, though more valued by the ancients than at 

 present. Nothing can exceed the beauty and elegance with which 

 the Swan rows in the water, throwing itself, before the spectators, 

 into the proudest attitudes, as if desirous of being viewed ; and will 

 swim faster than a man can walk ; but has a most inelegant and 

 awkward gait on land. The use of the feathers, and particularly 

 the down of both kinds, is well known, as well as the quills; the 

 feathers, too, compose muff's, and other ornaments. 



Although both species are externally alike as to plumage, within 

 they differ much in regard to the trachea ; as in the tame one, it 

 enters the lungs in a straight line without curvature, and the keel of 

 the breast bone being narrow as in the Common Goose ; but in the 

 Whistling Swan the keel is enlarged into a deep cavity to receive the 

 curved part as mentioned above. 



4 —BLACK-NECKED SWAN. 



Anas liigiicollis, Ind. Orn. ii. 834. Gin. Lin. i. p. 502. 

 — — melanocephala, Gm. Lin. i. p. 502. 



melancoi'ypha, Cygne Chilien, Molin. Chil. Fr. ed. p. 213. 



Cygne a tete noire, Voy. d'Azura, iv. No. 425. 



Black-necked Swan, Gen. Syn. vi. 438. Id. Sup. ii. 344. Boug. Voy. p. 59. Pern. 

 Voy. ii. p. 26. ch. 9. 



SIZE of the European Swan. Bill red ; head and half the neck 

 black, the rest glossy white; legs flesh-coloured. — Inhabits Falk- 

 land Isles, Rio del Plata, and Chili. The female, according to 

 Molina, has commonly six young, which it never leaves alone in 

 the nest, but carries them on its back every time it goes out in search 

 of food. — M. d'Azara says, it is not found in Paraguay, but is very 

 common about the River Plata, and the Swamps of Buenos Ayres, 

 where it is to be met with the whole year; lives in flocks, and 



