B EW IC K ’S SWAN.
Cygnus Bewickii, Bewick’s Swaiq Bewick, Brit. Birds, voii ii> p. g90,
»> . »> » », Belby, Brifc Ornith. vol, iif p. 284.
» » "»> » J enyns, Brit, Vert, p,
» ^ » ,, ,, Eyton, Bare Brit. Birds, p. 86,.
»> »* » » GooLD>JBirds of Europe, pt. xix.
» “ »» Cygne de Bewick, Temm. Man. d’Ornith. pt. iv. p. 527,.
In the winter of 1828-24, I prepared and preserved the
trachea and part of the bones of a young Wild Swan, shot
in this country, which, possessing peculiarities I had never
observed in the bones of the Hooper at any age, induced me
to believe it would prove to belong to a distinct species.
At the sale of part of the valuable collection of the late
Joshua Brookes, Esq. in July 1828, I purchased the sternum
and ttachea of a swan which had been prepared by Dr. Leach,
and presented by that distinguished naturalist to Mr. Brookes;
this, also, from its anatomical structure, appeared to be distinct
from the Hooper, and belonged to an adult bird of the
same species, as the bones;,of the young one just mentioned;
These materials I exhibited* at the evening meeting of the
Zoological Club of the Linnean Society, on the 24th of
November 1829,. and .contrasting them with analogous parts
of the Hooper, pointed out by comparison the anatomical
distinctions between, them, upon which I proposed to consider
the new one as a distinct species;
. Early injihe following month of December.I was presented
by^-J. B. Baker, Esq. with the sternum .and trachea of a
third example of this* new species, shot at Yarmouth during
the winter of 1821-28, the skin of which had been prepared
for that gentleman’s collection at Hardwicke' Court. During
the severe weather of the same month, wild swans were- unusually
numerous; more than fifty were counted in one flock
at Wittlesey Mere. Among a considerable number which
had been forwarded to the London markets for sale, I was
fortunate enough to select five examples- of this new species,
of different ages; and, possessing thus' a series of gradations
in structure, I described them in a paper read before the
Linnean Society,-rand proposed to call it BeWick’s Swan, thus
devoting it to the memory of one whose beautiful and animated
delineations of subjects in natural history entitle him
to! this tribute. These swans being plentiful from' the severity
ofi the winter, others were procured in different parts of the
country. Mr. Richard Wingate, of Newcastle, had obtained
specimens, and observing the difference between them and
the Hooper, read a notice upon the subject, at the Natural
History Society at Newcastle, and as he was one of the oldest
as well as one of the warmest friends of Thomas BeWick,