14 
ANATIDiE. 
trivial, as merely to incapacitate them from flight, were placed in 
his aquatic menagerie, where, in company with many other species 
of wild fowl, chiefly Anatidce, they have ever since remained. On 
March 13, 1830, another specimen of this swan appeared in our 
market, and was purchased by Eichard Langtry, Esq., who has it 
preserved in his collection.* 
“ On a comparison of the first-mentioned individual with the 
description of Cygnus Bewichii by Mr. Yarrell,t Mr. Selby, J and 
Sir William Jardine,§ I found the internal structure to agree; 
but in the external characters there was one important difference, 
the number of tail-feathers being twenty instead of eighteen, as 
specified by these distinguished ornithologists. This discrepancy 
induced me, in Eebruary last (1836), to examine Mr. Sinclaire's 
birds, which I did, with the assistance of that gentleman. These 
individuals differed from the descriptions above referred to : — In 
the number of tail-feathers, which in both birds amounted to 
twenty; || and in their irides, being blackish instead of orange- 
yellow ; a narrow ring, however, of yellow extends round them. 
The feathers on the forehead and region of the eyes, though of a 
rust-colour when the birds were captured, are now white, which 
colour prevails over the entire plumage. The two preserved 
specimens also have this rust-colour above the head, but do not, 
like the immature birds described by Mr. Yarrell, exhibit the 
least appearance of it on ‘ the under surface of the belly/ this 
part of the plumage being white ; hence we may conclude that 
the specimens under consideration were older than those so de- 
scribed by that gentleman, and that the head of the C. Bewichii 
retains the reddish plumage for a longer period than the under 
parts. Mr. Yarrell has correctly remarked that the plumage of 
this species is ‘ ultimately pure white / but Sir Wm. Jardine 
* The 2nd and 3rd quills in this specimen are half an inch longer than the 1st 
and 4th, which are of equal length. 
f * Linneean Transactions,’ vol. xvi. p. 445 et seq. 
% ‘ Illustrations of British Ornithology,’ temporary letter-press, p. 119. 
§ Jardine and Selby’s ‘ Illustrations of Ornithology,’ part vi. 
|| In the ‘ Fauna Bor. Amer.’ (part ii. p. 465), a specimen killed at Igloolik is 
described as having eighteen tail-feathers, and the irides of an orange-colour. 
