Bewick's and American swans. 
209 
hunt them in couples, wearying out the poor bird by 
repeated attacks, till at last it quietly resigns itself to 
death. 
With regard to the Wild Swans, much confusion as to 
identity of species exists ; and there is no doubt that the 
Whooping, or Whistling Swan is often confounded with the 
Changeless, or Polish Swan — a species of about the same 
size, being usually sixty inches in length, which is also the 
common size of the tame Sw^an, which this species perhaps 
yet more closely resembles, having, like that bird, the base 
of the bill black. Yarrell, who first distinguished and de- 
scribed this as a distinct species, states that the London 
dealers in birds have long been in the habit of receiving 
from the Baltic a large Swan, which they distinguish by 
the name of the Polish Swan. During the severe weather 
of January 1858, several flocks of these Polish Swans were 
seen pursuing a southern course along the line of our north- 
east coast, from Scotland to the mouth of the Thames. 
Since then several specimens have been shot in the country, 
four of them on the river Medw^ay, near Snodland church. 
Finding that the Cygnets, as far as observed, were 
white like the adults, and did not at any age assume the 
grey plumage borne by the young of most other species, 
Yarrell called this species immutabilis, or Changeless. 
The Swan named after that close observer and graphic 
delineator of birds, William Bewick, has a special mark of 
distinction ; its black bill with a yellow base, the colours 
being more decided and unmingled than in the Hooper, 
than which it is about a third less, being about forty-five 
inches in length. In its habits it is not likely to differ mate- 
rially from the other Swans which visit us ; but opportunities 
of observing it have been but few, although it has been 
frequently shot here. 
Of the American Swan but a single specimen has been 
taken in this country : it is the common Swan of North 
America; was long considered to be identical with the 
common Wild Swan, and was afterwards confounded with 
Bewick's, than which it is a larger bird, generally measur- 
ing about fifty-four inches. Our account of British Swans 
0 
