250 REPTILES AND BIRDS. 



on the head, neck, and breast. It occurs in considerable flocks in 

 the Outer Hebrides, where it arrives in October, and remains till 

 April. A large flock of these birds sitting lightly on the water, 

 advancing with elevated necks, presents a very beautiful spectacle. 

 Nor are they less handsome on the wing as they shoot through the 

 air, now arranged in long undulating ranks, at one time extending in 

 the direct line of their flight, at another flying obliquely, or at right 

 angles to it, and again mingling altogether under some unexplained 

 impulse. Their voice, as it proceeds from a large flock at some dis- 

 tance off, is clear and shrill, producing a pleasant harmony. 



The Black-faced Bernicle is much smaller than the White-faced 

 Goose, and easily distinguished from it by the face and head being 

 entirely black. They seem to have visited our shores in great num- 

 bers in former years. In the years 1739-40 these birds were so 

 abundant on the French coast that the people rose en masse to 

 destroy them ; and so numerous on the Kentish coast that many 

 were taken in a starving condition. Mr. McGillivray met with large 

 flocks of them in Cromarty Bay, Beauley Firth, and Montrose Basin. 

 Mr. Selby observed them as constant visitors on the shallow waters 

 between Holy Island and the mainland, and other parts of the coast. 

 They are very abundant in North America, and are migratory. 



The Swan (Cygnus). 



The Swan, which belongs to the family of Lamellirostral Palmi- 

 pedes, has been an object of admiration in all ages for its noble and 

 elegant proportions, the graceful curvature of its neck, its small and 

 shapely oval head, its beak so prominent at the base, the gracefully- 

 swelling rotundity of its body, its plumage, and, lastly, its colour of 

 purest white, being in truth the finest and largest of all our aquatic 

 birds. On the water it is a picture of elegant ease ; it swims appa- 

 rently without effort and with great rapidity ; on the wing it rises to 

 a great height, but on shore its walk is slow and cumbersome. It is 

 found in Europe, Asia, and America ; and in Australia a black swan, 

 for ages the rara avis of the poets, is very abundant. In the wild 

 state it lives on the lakes, rivers, and sea-coasts of both hemispheres, 

 feeding on such seeds, leaves, roots, water-insects, frogs, and worms 

 as come in its way. In its domestic state it is the charm and orna- 

 ment of our lakes and rivers ; but, except in some few instances, it 

 is only kept for show, being jealous and cruel in disposition, and 

 incapable of being tamed. 



The ancients thought the voice of the swan musical and har- 



