THE WHISTLING SWAN. Irv, 



Description. 



guinea a piece ; but when sold, they now bring 

 much more. 



At Abbotsbury, in Dorsetshire, there was for- 

 merly a noble swannery, the property of the earl 

 of llchester, where six or seven hundred birds 

 were kept ; but, from the mansion being almost 

 deserted by the family, this collection has of late 

 years been much diminished. The royally be- 

 longed anciently to the abbot, and previous to 

 the dissolution of the monasteries, there were fre- 

 quently above double this number. 



WILD, OR WHISTLING SWAN. 



THIS is somewhat smaller than the tame 

 swan, and in weight seldom exceeds sixteen 

 pounds. The bill is three inches long; yellowish 

 white to the middle, but biack at the end. The 

 whole plumage is white, but along the back, and 

 the tips^ of the wings, are ash-colour; and the 

 legs are black. 



The windpipe, after a strange and wonderful 

 contortion, enters through a hole, formed in the 

 breast- bone ; and being reflected therein, returns 

 by the same aperture; and being contracted into 

 a narrow compass by a broad and bony cartilage, 

 it is divided into two branches, which, before 

 they enter the lungs, are dilated, and as it were, 

 swollen out into two cavities. By this curious 

 2 A fc 2 



