PLATE V. 



GENUS CHENOPSIS. (Wagl.) 



MANY authorites prefer to classify the one species of this genus as Cygnus, but inasmuch as the Black Swan 

 departs from the true swans in many respects, Gould adopted Wagler's generic term by preference. 



CHENOPSIS ATRATA. (Wagi.) 



B L A CK S WA N. Genus Chenopsis. 



IN this bird we have one of those peculiar forms of Antipodean life which distinguish our Continent from the 

 rest of the world. In shape and movement it is a strikingly handsome and graceful bird, while its uniform 

 sooty-black plumage contrasts strikingly with its scarlet bill. 



It is very generally distributed over the Continent and Tasmania, but it is more plentiful in the southern 

 and western colonies ; indeed, until within recent years, the supposition was that the Black Swan was unknown 

 in the northern districts. 



The earliest record we have of this bird dates as far back as 1698, and is found in a letter written by Mr. 

 Witsen to Dr. M. Lister, in which he says : " Here is returned a ship, which by our East India Company was 

 sent to the south land called Hollahdia Nova ;" and adds that Black Swans, Parrots, and many Sea Cows were 

 found there. Nearly thirty years later two swans were taken alive to Batavia from near Dirk Hartog's Bay. 

 Cook, too, noticed it in several places on the coast. But in spite of the universal interest felt in this bird by 

 naturalists, little or nothing is known of its habits and economy in its wild state. 



It is to be found commonly wherever there are rivers, estuaries of the sea, lagoons, and pools of water of 

 any size. Sometimes flocks of many hundreds may be seen congregated in one locality, but that is usually near 

 the sea, where shallow arms pass the beach line and spread into broad, shallow lagoons, sheltered from rough 

 winds, and far from the haunts of man. The natives were not nearly so formidable a foe in their day as the 

 white man is in his. He sees in the thick soft down of the Black Swan's breast a rich harvest, and pursues the 

 poor birds with wanton destruction. Eroni this cause they are gradually becoming scarce, and are never seen in 

 the neighbourhood of settled districts. 



Its flight is rapid and high, the course being a direct one. Its disposition is gentle and confiding, 

 unless ill-treated or intruded upon in its home. 



The breeding season lasts from October to January, when a clutch of from five to eight eggs is laid in a 

 large nest made of flags, rushes, and other sedgy plants, and placed on an island, or some isolated spot. The 

 eggs are pale green, stained all over with buffy brown. Length, four inches and a-half, by two inches and 

 three-quarters. The chicks when first hatched are covered with a greyish down. 



These are singularly hardy birds, and become quickly acclimatised ; this quality, with their exceedingly 

 handsome appearance, makes them most popular aviary birds. They breed readily in captivity, though few seem 

 to have surpassed Mr. Samuel Gurney's success in breeding on his estate at Carshalton, on the Wandle, in 

 Surrey. He says : " They were purchased from Baker, of Leadenhall Market, in 1851. They did not breed till 

 1854, when they laid their first egg on January 1st. It was a most severe winter — snow on the ground, and 

 intense frost nearly the whole time they were sitting. They hatched their young during the greatest cold of 



