DUSKY DUCK. 75 
of the beach. The eggs are eight or ten in number, very nearly 
resembling those of the domestic duck. Vast numbers, how- 
ever, 
recularly migrate farther north on the approach of spring. 
Cygnus, Steph. 
Wilson, in his List of Birds, mentions the ‘‘swan ;”’ but from three species 
3. 
4, 
5. 
at least being natives of the arctic countries, it is impossible to say whether 
or not he was aware of any distinctions. 
C. musicus, Bechst., or Wild Swan.—Inhabits the arctic circle, whence 
it migrates to both continents. 
C. buccinator, Richardson.—Trumpeter Swan.—Discovered to be unde- 
scribed by Dr Richardson during the last Overland Expedition ; distin- 
guished by the bill being entirely black, longer and more depressed than in 
the common wild swan, the tail containing twenty-four feathers, and by a 
difference in the folding of the windpipe. The Doctor remarks, it is the 
most common swan in the interior of the Fur Countries. It breeds as far 
south as lat. 61 deg., but principally within the arctic circle, and in its 
migrations generally precedes the geese a few days. It is to the trumpeter 
the bulk of the swan-skins imported by the Hudson’s Bay Company 
belong. 
C. Bewickit, Yarrel.—Bewick’s Swan.—This bird has lately been discovered 
as a migratory visitant to Britain. Dr Richardson met with it during the 
last expedition, and remarks :—‘‘ This swan breeds on the sea-coast 
with inthe arctic circle, and is seen in the interior of the Fur Countries in 
its passage only. It makes its appearance among the latest of the migra- 
tory birds in the spring, while the trumpeter swans are, with the exception 
of the eagles, the earliest.” 
Lewis and Clarke, Lawson, and Hearne, were all aware of the difference 
6. 
bo | 
8. 
9. 
among the American swans, but they have never, till lately, been really 
distinguished and characterised. 
Anser, Bechst. 
A, albifrons, Bechst.—White-fronted Goose.—Is mentioned by Bonaparte, 
and is introduced in the ‘‘ Northern Zoology.” Its breeding-places are 
the woody districts skirting the Mackenzie, to the north of the sixty- 
seventh parallel, and also the islands of the Arctic Sea. 
. A. segetum, Meyer.—Common Bean Goose.—Inhabiting the more arctic 
regions. Bonaparte mentions also four additional species as probably 
accidental inhabitants of the United States and the arctic countries—A. 
cinercus, Meyer ; A. rufescens, Brehm ; A. medius, Temm. ; and A. cener- 
aceus, Brehm. 
Bernicla, Steph. 
B. leucopsis (Anas erythropus, Linn.—A. leucopsis, Temm.)—Inhabiting 
the arctic circle, migrating during winter to more temperate regions, and 
very rare and accidental in the United States. 
B. Hutchinsit (Anser Hutchinsii, Richards.—Hutchin’s Bernacle, North. 
Zool. ii. p. 470).—Described by Dr Richardson as a variety of the brant 
in the appendix to Captain Parry’s second volume, and distinguished from 
it during the last Arctic Expedition.—Eb. 
