544 



WILD SWAN. 



(Angl.)p. 356. t. 69.— Edw. t. 150.— Flem. Br. Anim. p. 126.— Whistling 



Swan, Arct. Zool. 2. No. 469.— Ib. Supp. p. 75.— Lath. Syn. 6. p. 433 Ib. 



Supp. p. 272.— Lewin's Br. Birds, 7. t. 236.— Wale. Syn. 1. t. 55 Pult. Cat. 



Dorset, p. 19. 



Provincial. — Elk. Hooper. 

 This is a very distinct species from the common or mute swan, of 

 which we shall take notice in this place merely to shew the difference ; 

 for as that bird is confined to a half-domesticated state, and is real pro- 

 perty, it cannot claim a place amongst the wild or native birds of this 

 country. 



The Wild Swan is inferior in size to the other species ; the weight 

 from fifteen to twenty-five pounds ; length four feet ten inches ; breadth 

 seven feet ; the bill is between four and five inches in length, two- 

 thirds of which is yellow from the base, and bare of feathers up to the 

 eyes ; the end part is black, running to an angle up the middle ; irides 

 of a very light yellow. The whole plumage is of a pure white ; in 

 some there are a few marks of faint rust-colour on the head ; the tail 

 consists of twenty feathers ; legs black. 



The tame swan is not only much superior in weight, but is at once 

 distinguished by a large black callous knob on the base of the bill ; but 

 the more essential distinction is in the extraordinary convolution of the 

 windpipe, peculiar to the Wild Swan. This enters a large cavity in the 

 breast bone, to the depth of more than two inches ; then returns and 

 forms a junction with the lungs. 



Dr. Latham has given a very excellent figure of this wonderful for- 

 mation, in an essay on the trachea of birds, in the fourth volume of the 

 Linnaean Transactions. This, which both sexes possess, makes a ma- 

 terial distinction in the two species. What peculiar use this is of, we 

 are at a loss to determine. The common swan is seldom heard to make 

 any noise, or only a very faint one ; whereas this bird has a prodigiously 

 loud call, that may be heard to a great distance, which it frequently 

 utters as it is flying, and which resembles greatly that of the cuckoo. 



Having killed one of this species out of a flock of ten or twelve, its 

 companions flew round several times, making a most melancholy cry 

 before they flew off. This put us in mind of the solemn dirge of the dying 

 swan described by the ancient poets, and may possibly have given rise to 

 those accounts ; only by them it is made to be sung by the dying bird. 



*A female Wild Swan shot near Bridge water, in the year 1805, got 

 the better of her wound, and was kept by Mr. Stone, with his geese, 

 for nearly two years, during which time she laid one egg. This 

 beautiful and docile bird is now (1813) alive and in high health, living 

 with many other sorts of ducks in the greatest harmony. Towards 



