PRELIMINARY NOTICES. 



in length and four in breadth, the lines regular and straight, 

 within which there was scarcely a tree, large or small, that was 

 not covered with nests. They caused such a constant roaring, 

 by the flapping of their wings, that person?, on going into the 

 encampment, had great difficulty in hearing each other speak. 

 Every thing throughout the camp appeared to be conducted in 

 the most perfect order. They take their turns regularly in feeding 

 their young; and when any of them are killed upon their nests 

 by the sportsmen, others immediately supply their places. The' 

 editor of the paper mentioned observes, " we incline to believe 

 that they have in part adopted Mr. Owen's community system, as 

 the whole appears to be a common stock business. The squabs, 

 (young pigeons,) are now sufficiently large to be considered by 

 epicures better for a rich dish than the old ones ; they are caught 

 and carried off by waggon loads." 



It appears, by the latest accounts, that the statement that this 

 pigeon lays only one egg for a brood is incorrect. It often lays 

 two eggs for the same sitting ; and it also breeds nearly as often 

 as our domestic pigeon, seven or eight times a year. In twenty- 

 three days from the laying of the eggs the young can fly ; in eight 

 days after being hatched they fly from the nest. New York Med. 

 and Phys. Journal. 



Cygnusferus, or Wild Swan, page 125. The chief specific 

 difference between this and the Tame Swan, consists in the 

 structure of the trachea or windpipe, which, in this species? 

 enters into the sternum, or breast-bone, forms a circumvolution 

 within it, and, returning out again, enters in the usual manner 

 into the lungs. In the tame Swan there is nothing unusual in 

 the progress of the trachea into the lungs. Like the tame Swan 

 this species may be bred in confinement. Lord Egremont has 

 reared it at Petworth: the pair now in the Zoological 

 Gardens came from his lordship's menagerie. Guide to the 

 Gardens. 



Cygnus atrata or Anas atrata, page 125. The Black Swan 

 is bred with ease in England. The trachea of this bird is singu- 



