120 a n a t id æ .
1544, and Sibbald includes it in his Fauna of Scotland, h r
1684. They were Mote -abundant formerly than at the
present time, though still existing in a comparatively wild
state on many rivers. The author of the Journal of a Naturalist
mentions having seen more than forty at^ono-ti-BlIg^n
the great swan-pool that-some years ago. existed nèar thet-§ity
of Lincoln} but has been since drained ; and the great, swannery
of the Earl of Ilchester, at Abhótsbury, near the - coast '
in Dorsetshire, is well known. About eighty Swans are th ep
preserved, and as the cygnets are not caught to be marked
or pinioned, the interesting sight of Several of these fine, large,
birds on the wing togetherls often witnessed'.;.1.. The water-is
strictly watehetLand guarded, and in-the season -dsr*used as
a decoy.
The adult bird has the nail at the point of the, beak,-’the
edge of the mandible on each side* the base, the* lore tê'th;e
eye, the. Orifice of the nostrils and the tubercle, black
rest of the beak reddish orange ; the irides brown the head,
neckband all the plumage pure white; -the legs^ toes, and
interdigital membranes black.
The whole length of-an old mafefis from four feet eight
inches, to five, feet's' the weight about.thirty pounds; and
marked Swans have been known to live fifty years.: The male
is distinguished from the female by being larger the black
tubercle at the base of the beak is also larger;. the neck is
thicker, and the bird swims higher out of the water. The
body of the female is. „smaller; the neck more slender, and
she appears to swim deeper in the water. This latter point
is referrible to a well known anatomical law, that females have
less capacious lungs than males, and her body therefore is
less' buoyant.
The young Mute Swan, in July, has plumage of a dark
bluish-grey, almost a sooty grey; the neck, and the under
surface of the body rather lighter in colour; the beak lead
colour; the nostrils and the basal marginal line black. The
same,birds, - a t' the: end of October, have the beak of a light
slate-grey, tinged with green]; the irides dark; head, neck,
and all the upper surface of the body,,nearly uniform sooty
-greyish-brown; the under - surface also uniform, but of a
lighter shade of greyish-brown. Yonng birds at the end of
October nearly as large as/tjbe. old birds. After the second
autumn moult but little of the grey plumage remains. When
two years old they are quite white, and breed in their third
year.. |
The figure here inserted represents the windpipe and
breast-bone, of the Mute Swan. The keel, is single, unprovided
with any cavity; the windpipe descends between the
■ branches of the forked bone, and curving in the form of part
of a circle, passes upwards and backwards to the bone of
divarication, and from- thence by short tubes to the lungs.
One subject having reference to this, species oft Swan appears
to be so closely connected with its history, that I am
induced to take a short notice of it, and the more so because
it has hitherto been passed over i n . other histories,; of the
birds of this country. I allude to the privileges granted
to individuals or companies to keep and preserve Swans on
different streams; and the many various swan marks adopted,