bewick’s swan. 
19 
bill, from forehead to point, 3 inches 5 lines ; from eye to point 
4 inches 5 lines ; rictus to point 3|- inches ; tarsus 3f inches, 
and in some parts of a brown, in others of a black colour ; middle 
toe and nail 5j inches. A gentleman resident at Portumna, 
situated near the river Shannon, and Lough Derg, one of its ex- 
pansions, told me, in 1839, that wild swans are often there in 
winter : he had observed them in the course of three successive 
seasons. On showing him two stuffed specimens of C. Bewickii , 
he stated with certainty, that those which had been killed were not 
of larger size, but that they differed in having a greyish tinge over 
their plumage ; — consequently they were young birds. Another 
gentleman, once resident at Portumna, supplied me with informa- 
tion to the same effect, and mentioned his having seen three grey 
wild swans which were shot there. 
In the month of October 1840, I saw, at Florence Court, 
county of Fermanagh, a living Bewick’s swan, that had been there 
for about ten years, and which was wounded in the neighbourhood. 
This bird was at first placed with a pair of tame swans, but they 
would not keep company with it. That the stranger might have the 
advantage of some society, it was considerately placed with a flock 
of common geese, which welcomed it as a friend, and thenceforth 
they became associated together ; — in the midst of a flock of these 
birds, this swan first attracted my attention."*" The Hon. J. L. 
Cole informed me at that time, that previous to the four pre- 
ceding winters, he had annually seen small flocks of wild swans 
on Lough Macnean — a fine and extensive lake within three miles of 
Florence Court, — and occasionally observed, at the same view, 
two flocks, each consisting of six or seven individuals. Arthur 
Young remarks, in reference to Lough Erne, in his f Tour in 
Ireland/ under date of August 17, 1776: — "Large flights of 
swans sometimes appear here in winter.” 
A Bewick’s swan, wounded on the Shannon, in the middle of 
February 1841, was procured there by Colonel Jones, of the 
Board of Works, and presented by him to the ftoyal Zoological 
Society of Ireland. It was received at their garden on the 18th 
* About two years afterwards, it met with an accidental death. 
c 2 
