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Show 420 AVES. tables, J;lies extremely high and with great swiftness, using its wings, which are a powerful weapon, in striking its enemies when attacked. It breeds among the reeds in ponds, and lays six. or eight eggs of a greenish-grey. .8.n. cygnus, Gm.; Edw. 150; Brit. Zool. pl. 2; Naum., Ed. I, t. 13, f. 27. (The Black-billed Swan.) Bill black with a yel· low base; the body white tinged with a yellowish grey-when young, all grey. This species, which is very similar externally to the preceding one, differs essentially from it internally, in the trachea, which is bent over and penetrates to a considerable extent in a cavity of the keel of the sternum, a peculiarity com· mon to both sexes which does not exist in the domestic Swan. The latter is also erroneously called the Wild Swan, and the Singing Swan. The tale of its singing on the app1·oach of death is a fable. .8.n. plutonia, Sh.; .11. atrata, Lath.; Cigne noir; Nat. Misc. pl. 108; Vieill. Gal. 286 (The Black Swan), has been lately discovered in New Holland; it is the size of the common species, but its carriage is less graceful and elegant; it is all black, the primary quills excepted, which are white, and the bill with the naked skin on its base, which is red.( 1) It is impossible to separate from the Swans, certain species, much less elegant it is true, but which have the same kind of bill. Several have a tubercle at its base. The most common, .R.n. cygnoi:des, L.; Oie de Guinee, Enl. 347, is bred in poultry yards, where it mixes with the Geese. It is a whitish grey with a brown grey mantle; the male is recognised by a feathered appendage which hangs under his bill, and by a large tubercle which surmounts its base. Another species, much rarer, called by its first describers .!ln. gambensis, L.; Oie de Gambie; Lath. Syn. III, p. 2, pl. 102, is remarkable for its size, long legs, tubercle on the forehead, and for two large spurs with which its wing is armed. Its plu· mage is a purple black, the throat, front, and under part of the body and wings, white.(2) (1) The Die a cravatte (An. canademis, L.) Enl. 346, Wils., LXVII, 4, appears to me to be a true Swan. ' (2) ~uff. has confounded this Goose with a variety of the Oie d'Egypte, Enl. 982. 'i:he figure of Latham is defective, inasmuch as it shows but one spur; the helmet also is not salient. This is also the place for the Oie bronzee a crite sur le bee, Ipecati apoa, of Marcgr. (.8n. melanotos), Enl. 937, Vieill. 285. P ALMIPEDES. 421 ANSER, Briss. Geese have a moderate or short bill, narrower before than behind, and higher than wide at base; their legs, being longer than those of the Ducks, and placed nearer the centre of the body, increase thei.r facility in walking. Several of them feed on seeds and plants. There is no inflation at the root of the trachea, nor is there any curve in that organ in any of the species known. GEEsE, properly so called, Have a beak as long as their head; the ends of the lamellre extend to its edges, appearing like pointed teeth. .8.n. anser, L. (The Common Goose), which has acquired all sorts of colours in our poultry-yards, originates from a wild species that is grey, with a brown mantle undulated with grey and an orange-coloured beak, the .!lns. cinereus, Meyer; Albin., 90; Naum. Ed. I, pl. 41, f. 60. There is another species, however, which arrives late in the fall, and which may be known by its wings being longer than the tail, and by some white spots on the forehea.d; its bill is orange with a black base and poiat. .B.ns. segetum, Meyer, Enl. 985; Frisch, 155; Naum., I, C. 42, f. 61. .8.nas albifrons, Gm.; L'Oie rieuse; Edw. 153; Naum. Ed. I, 43, f. 62. (The White-fronted Goose.) Is sometimes seen in France during the winter. It is grey, with a black belly and white forehead. The north of both continents produces a fourth species. .8.n. ltyperborea, Gm.; Wils. VIII, lx.viii, 5; and the young lxix, 5; Naum. Ed. I, Sup. pl. 23, f. 46. (The Snow-Goose.) White; feet and bill red; tips of the wing-quills black. It sometimes wanders into the temperate parts of Europe during the prevalence of heavy gales in winter. The young bird is more or less grey. It is the .!ln. cmrulescens, Gm., Edw. 152. The BERNAOLES( 1) Are distinguished from the Common Geese by a shorter and slenderer bill, the edges of which conceal the extremities of the laminre. · France is sometimes visited during the winter by that species from the north of Europe, which is so celebrated by the fabu- (1) Bernacle, Scotch name ofthe A. leucopsis. |