4 
ANATIM. 
my notice in the hands of a taxidermist, who was preserving them 
for the museum of the Royal Dublin Society. 
In the following year I saw, with the same person — Mr. W. S. 
Wall — another bird, which had been obtained, early in March 
1838, in the Queen's-county. He at the same time mentioned 
that, in the severe weather of the winter of 1837-38, eight wild 
swans were seen for two days in the bay, “ close to the city of 
Dublin.” In January 1838, a flock of fourteen appeared in 
the neighbourhood of Ballynahinch, county Down ; one of them 
which was wounded, lived in Montalto demesne, until the 9th of 
July following, when it was killed by a dog. It was sent to a 
taxidermist in Belfast to be preserved, and came under my notice 
previous to being skinned, when the following description was 
drawn up : — 
Length 5 feet 2 inches ; dill from point to forehead 4 inches 2 lines, — to rictus 
4 inches 3 lines, — from eye to point 5 inches 3 lines. Tarsus 4 inches 9 lines ; mid- 
dle toe and nail 6 inches 10^ lines. Tail-feathers 20 in number. Colour : — feathers 
from lower part of neck to vent, including those under the wings, tipped with rust- 
colour ; remainder of under surface (from throat to neck, and from vent to end of 
tail) white, with occasional faint indications of rust-colour. Feathers ou sides and top of 
head, nape, and neck for some distance below the nape tipped with rust-colour, which 
is very intense on the forehead ; remainder of upper surface white. Legs and feet 
greyish-black ; upper mandible at base gamboge-yellow, which colour advances on 
its sides rather before the nostrils, remainder black ; lower mandible blackish at sides 
and tip, yellowish horn-colour along centre, — short feathers covering the tibia tipped 
with rust colour. 
A letter from John Yandeleur Stewart, Esq., dated Rockhill, 
Letterkenny, September 21, 1840, informed me that he had 
procured there, in winter, about two years before that time, a 
specimen of Cygnns ferns. A description of the bird was kindly 
forwarded, fully proving, from anatomical as well as external 
characters, that it was the species named. This individual 
was most probably obtained in the great Anatidce winter of 
1837-38, when the birds of this family were remarkably plentiful 
on the coasts of Great Britain and temperate continental Europe. 
It is singular that although many more specimens of Cyg. Bewiclcii 
than of C. ferns killed in Ireland have come under my own obser- 
vation and that of my correspondents, I do not possess a single 
