File:Hand-book to the birds of Great Britain (1894) (14747105361).jpg

Identifier: handbooktobirdso02shar (find matches)
Title: Hand-book to the birds of Great Britain
Year: 1894 (1890s)
Authors: Sharpe, Richard Bowdler, 1847-1909
Subjects: Birds -- Great Britain
Publisher: London, Allen
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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Swan (Chenopsis atrata) is con-fined to Australia, and the aberrant genus, Coscoroba^ to thesouth 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 afterthe breeding-season, and become equally helpless, being ableto save themsejves only by swimming, as they are incapableof flight. As with the Geese, they are then captured by thedexterous natives, and have become extinct in many of theirold breeding-haunts. With regard to the supposed occurrences of the TrumpeterSwan (Cygnus buccinator) and the Whistling Swan (C. ameri-canus) in England, I cannot do better than quote the opinionof Mr. Howard Saunders as to the worth of the records. Heobserves : An immature Swan shot at Aldeburgh in October,1866, and now in the Ipswich Museum, is, in the opinion ofProfessor Newton, an example of the American TrumpeterSwan, C buccinator, a larger species than the Whooper with a
Text Appearing After Image:
THE TRUE SWANS. 247 black bill. It has long been naturalised in this country, andhas repeatedly hatched its young in captivity, so that there isalways a strong probability of the cygnets escaping before theycan be pinioned. Another North American species whichhas been stated—but on far weaker evidence—to have beenfound at long intervals in the shops of Edinburgh poulterers,is C. a;;iericamis, a bird which is smaller than the VVhooper,though larger than Bewicks Swan, which it resembles inhaving patches of small size at the base of the bill, but of adeep orange-colour. In the adults of our Whooper and theAmerican Trumpeter Swan, the loop of the trachea betweenthe walls of the keel of the sternum takes a vertical direction,whereas in Bewicks Swan and in C. americmius the bend ishorizontal; but in immature birds these distinctions are lessmarked, and are not absolutely invariable. I. THE WHOOPER SWAN. CYGNUS MUSICUS. Anas cygnus, Linn. S. N. i. p. 194 (1766 ; pt.).Cygnus ?misicus, Mac

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