246 
Allen’s naturalist’s library. 
underlying green shell 
glossy, and the shell is 
1 - 8 .” 
; the surface is rather smooth but not 
very fragile. Axis, 27 inches ; diam.. 
THE SWANS. SUB-FAMILY CYGNINHt. 
These birds are so familiar to everyone that a long and de- 
tailed description of their characters is not necessary. They 
are distinguished by two features which prevent their being 
mistaken for any other of the Ducks or Geese : they have no 
lobe on the hind-toe, and at the same time a remarkably long 
neck, which equals or even exceeds the length of the bird’s 
body. They further differ from the Dticks and Geese in 
having the lores bare, but in the Chilian Swan (Coscoroba cgs- 
coroba) the lores are feathered, and this bird seems to be inter- 
mediate between the Swans and the Geese. In some of the 
species the trachea is convoluted and enters the sternum. 
The distribution of the Swans is principally arctic, and 
they breed in the high north of both hemispheres, but a true 
Cygnns, the Black-necked Swan (C. melanocoryphus), is found 
in South America. The Black Swan ( Chenopsh airata) is con- 
fined to Australia, and the aberrant genus, Coscoroba, to the 
south of South America. 
THE TRUE SWANS. GENUS CYGNUS. 
Cygnus, Bechst. Orn. Taschenb. ii, p. 404, note (1803). 
Type, C. olor (Gm.). 
like the Geese, the Swans moult their quill-feathers after 
the breeding-season, and become equally helpless, being able 
to save themsejves only by swimming, as they are incapable 
of flight. As with the Geese, they are then captured by the 
dexterous natives, and have become extinct in many of their 
old breeding-haunts. 
With regard to the supposed occurrences of the Trumpeter 
Swan {Cygnus buccinator) and the Whistling Swan (C. ameri- 
canus) in England, I cannot do better than quote the opinion 
of Mr. Howard Saunders as to the worth of the records. 1 ie 
observes : “An immature Swan shot at Aldeburgh in October, 
1866, and now in the Ipswich Museum, is, in the opinion of 
Professor Newton, an example of the American Trumiieter 
Swan, C, buccinator, a larger species than the Whooper with a 
