COLLECTION OF BIRDS. 385 



they keep constantly in the tropical latitudes, the 

 approach of which they announce to sailors. 



The four cases which terminate the gallery are 

 filled with the lamelliroslres ; to this family be- 

 long the swans, geese, and the numerous family 

 of ducks and the mergus, Lath. The swans are 

 well known for the beauty and elegance of their 

 form, and for their down which is so useful. 

 The beak of the wild swan is yellow at the base, 

 and black at the extremity, it is a distinct species 

 from the domestic swan, which has a red beak. 

 The black swan of New Holland, and that with 

 a black neck sent from the Brazils by M. Saint- 

 Hilaire, are remarkable species. Above the swan 

 is the bernacle goose (anas eryihropus, Lath.), 

 celebrated for having long been thought to spring 

 from trees like fruit ; it passes the summer in the 

 north, and visits our climates in winter. Next 

 to this is the Egyptian goose, which is very com- 

 mon in Africa. We see it often represented on 

 ancient Egyptian monuments ; it was worshipped 

 for its attachment to its young, and the Egyptians 

 called it chenalopex (fox-goose). 



Among the ducks (of which we have seventy- 

 eight species) we will only cite : ist. The eyder 

 [anas mollis sima), a bird common in the north 

 of Europe, and which only visits the coasts of 

 France in the severest winters; it furnishes a 



25 



