64 ANSTRALIAN ZOOLOGY, 
Brack Swan—Oygnus atratus. 
Rara avis in terris nigroque simillima cycno.—JUVENAL. 
Iniroduction.—Strzelecki states that the black swan was dis- 
covered in 1697 by Vlaming. The first notice on record respecting 
its existence ovcurs in a letter written by Mr. Witsen to Dr M, 
Lister about the year 1698, in which he says :—‘‘ Here is returned 
a ship, which by our Hast India Company was sent to the south 
land called Hollandia Nova;” and adds that black swans were 
found there. In 1726 two were brought alive to Batavia, having 
been procured on the west) coast of Australia, near Dirk Hartog’s 
Bay. Captain Cook observed it on several parts of the coast, and 
from that time to the present it has attracted the attention of every 
traveller in Australia. 
Description.—The whole of the plumage is brownish-black, the 
under surface being paler than the upper. The feathers of the back 
are tipped with greyish brown ; the primaries and the secondaries 
pure white ; the bill beautiful pinky scarlet, crossed near the tip 
with a broad band of white. The extremities of both mandibles are 
also white, the irides scarlet, the eyelashes and the lores pinky 
scarlet, the feet black. 
fabits.—In disposition, unless molested or its precincts intruded 
upon, it is as tame, gentle and harmless as it is graceful and orna- 
mental in appearance, and as it readily becomes domesticated, many 
of the avaries of Europe are adorned with its presence. In Oct., 
1894, a pair of Australian black swans on the lake at Stamford Park, 
near Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire, England, hatched a nest of 
cygnets. This was the second brood of the season by the same birds, 
which succeeded in hatching two ‘out of four eggs in the spring. 
This time half-a-dozen dusky little swimmers were produced. 
The double brood is a somewhat phenomenal occurrence, and can 
only be accounted for by the fact that the birds have recognised the 
breeding seasons of their adopted, as well as their native, country, 
Oct. being the Australian breeding season. When flying it forms a 
most conspicuous object, the white of the wings offering a strong 
contrast to the black colouring of its body and the green herbage 
bounding the scene in which it is disporting. In some localities it 
occurs in such numbers that flocks of many hundreds may be seen 
together, particularly on those arms of the sea which, after passing 
the beach-line of the coast, expand into great sheets of shallow 
water, on which the birds are seldom disturbed either by the force 
of boisterous winds or the intrusion of the natives. 
Nidification.—It breeds from Sept. to Jan., and constructs a 
large nest of reeds and other aquatic herbage. It lays from five to 
nine eggs of a pale green, the shell of which is rather rough, and 
stained with brown. The average dimensions of four eggs taken 
from a swamp near the Lachlan is 4x 2-6in. The time of incuba- 
tion in London was 35 days. 


