6 
ANATIDiE. 
informed me that this swan was shot by his gamekeeper in the 
heather on the borders of Lough Beg at day-break, on the 
14th of February. Hearing on the previous day that a swan was 
on the lake, Mr. Bruce went in pursuit, and got two or three 
shots at it with a rifle ; but being in a boat, and a stiff breeze 
blowing at the time, he could not strike the bird with a ball, 
though he did so more than once with shot, at too great a dis- 
tance, however, to do much injury. Night coming on, the chase 
was given up, and on the following morning the keeper was sent 
to where the bird was last seen, when, managing to approach 
within fifty yards of his victim, he shot it. This swan had been 
about three weeks on the lake by itself, where, during the winter 
at an earlier period, a single bird was seen by my informant, as 
well as flocks of five, six, and fourteen, at different times. 
Lough Beg is contiguous to Lough Neagh, with which it is con- 
nected by the river Bann. 
I made the following notes on this swan previous to its being skinned. Weight 
17* lbs. 
ft. in. lin. 
Length from point of bill to end of tail . . . . . .489 
of wing from carpus to end of longest quill . . . . 1 11 9 
bill from first feathers on forehead to point ... 43 
rictus to point . . . . . . . 3 11 
eye to point ....... 4 11 
; — tarsus .......... 49 
middle toe and nail 6 0 
fphe black colour of the upper mandible extends from the point 1 . 3 2 
Leaving of yellow thence to forehead ..../. 11 
The black extends, in an angular direction, from its termination on 
the ridge of the bill down through the middle of the nostrils, until 
it strikes the base of the upper mandible at the distance from its 
point of .......... 19 
Tail-feathers 20 in number. 
This bird is wholly of a white colour, excepting a very few rust-coloured feathers 
close to the base of the upper mandible. This is of a deep lemon-yellow towards 
the base, and shining black towards the point. The under mandible is black on the 
outer horny part, lemon-yellow down the central or fleshy portion. Legs and toes 
with webs of both upper and under surfaces black ; nails blackish ; irides blackish ; 
— the precise shade could not be ascertained, owing to the bird having been two or 
three days dead. On dissection it proved to be a female ; the stomach was quite 
empty. 
