PLATE CCXXVIIL 



full grown about fix feet. A material diftiu6lion of the whlftling fvvaii 

 confifts alfo in the colour of the bill as well as form ; it is abont three 

 inches long, and from the bafe to the middle pale yellow, the other 

 half black, and the legs are black, inclining fomelimes to reddiOu 

 Like the mute fwan the whittling kind exhibits a traiifition of colour, 

 from deep cinereous brown to pure white, as it proceeds through the 

 different ftages of its grovvth. Our prefent figure is defigned to ex- 

 hibit one of thcfe tranfitions, the drawing being taken from a very tine 

 fpecimen of the bird, and which had attained its full and perfefit fize 

 without having yet atTumed tlie wbitenefs of the older birds. Its ap- 

 pearance wlien the plumage has become entirely white may be eafily 

 conceived from that of the mute fwan, delineated at the conclufion of 

 the prefent Volume 



The wild or whiftling fwan is of the gregarious kind, alTociating 

 together in flocks of eight or ten in unmber ; it is in fuch flocks that 

 thefe birds ufually vifit the northern parts of Britain during the winter : 

 imlefs, however, in feafons of particular feverity, they are never feen 

 more foutherly with us than the Scottifli Ifles, and then very rarely in 

 flocks of more than five or fix in number. In Iceland they aflbciate 

 in larger flocks, and appear in fiill greater numbers towards the north- 

 ward, where they breed, as in Lapland, the deferts of Tartary and 

 Siberia as far as Kamtfchatka. A few breed in the Wefl:ern Ifles. 

 Von Troil informs us, that they alfo breed in Iceland, and that the 

 greater part of the young brood ftay there the whole year, frequenting 

 the lakes in funuiier, and in the winter removing to the fea ftiore. Their 

 habits are the fame in America, the lakes to the fouthward abounding 

 with them during the fummer, in the winter they appear upon the fea 



* riiUe CCXXIV. 



eoaft. 



