16 
ANATID^E. 
attempt to molest any of the wild fowl confined in the same pond 
with them, though all of these are their inferiors in strength and 
size. Their call, chiefly uttered at the migratory periods, is a low 
deep- toned whistle once repeated. On the water, the carriage of 
the Cygnus Bewickii is intermediate in its character, between that 
of the mute swan and common goose. Their necks are not thrown 
boldly back, nor their wings raised above the body as in the 
Cygnus olor ; but if they do not exhibit the grace and majesty 
of this species on the liquid element, they appear to much more 
advantage on land, where by choice the greater portion of their 
time is spent. 
“ The Museum of the Eoyal Dublin Society contains a specimen 
of Bewick's swan, which was shot, in November 1830, in the 
west of Ireland. It exhibits the rust-colour on the head, in- 
dicative of immaturity. In the collection of William Massey, 
Esq., of the Pigeon-house Eort, Dublin, I recognized another 
bird of this species in the immaculate plumage of maturity. 
This was, along with a second individual, killed by Mr. Massey, 
out of a flock of five, in Dublin Bay, on the 18th December, 1829. 
“ On a fine sheet of water in the demesne of the Marquis of 
Sligo, at Westport, county of Mayo, in June 1834, I observed a 
swan of this species, in mature plumage, but could not learn any 
particulars of its capture. On January the 4th, 1836, two 
f strings' — as they are called when flying in single file — of wild 
swans, consisting of twenty-eight birds, were seen at the bog- 
meadows, near Belfast ; and on the following day, Mr. Wm. 
Sinclaire saw a string of nineteen flying with extreme slowness 
from the direction of Belfast Bay to the same place. Erom their 
call being, though somewhat hoarser, like that of the individuals 
in his possession, and from their apparent similarity in size, he 
was fully satisfied that they were Cygnus Bewickii. In a letter 
dated February 5, 1 836, Mr. E. Ball mentioned having recently 
obtained three specimens of this swan. Two of them were shot 
in the county Fermanagh, the third he bought in Dublin market, 
where another was exposed for sale at the same time. It could 
not be ascertained where the two latter were killed. 
