As additional peculiarities of this species, Yarrell notes that "the parent birds were remarkable in having the legs, toes, and their intervening membranes, of a pale ash-grey colour. The black tubercle at the base of the beak was of small size, and there was a slight difference in the nostrils, the elongated openings of which did not reach the black colour at the base of the beak." The Mute Swan, as it has erroneously been called from the fact of its possessing a soft voice very unlike the harsh tones of its wild brethren, utters a somewhat monotonous and plaintive call during the spring, or occasionally later in the season when moving about with its young. Col. Hawker, in his "Sporting Notes," describes this "Swan's melody" as consisting of two notes, C and the minor third E flat, adding that the musician he heard kept working with his head, as though delighted with the sounds he was producing. In England, where these birds live in a state of semi-domestication, they are met with at all seasons. During the period of incubation they live in pairs, and jealously drive away all intruders from the domain they have appropriated for the purpose of building. The nest, which is formed of a mass of reeds and rushes, is placed near the edge of the river or pond, or on an island, and by a most wonderful instinct is frequently raised to a height sufficient to escape a rising of the water even before man himself has observed any indication of such a danger. The eggs are six or seven in number, and have a dull greenish white shell; their length is about four inches by two inches nine lines broad. During the whole period of incubation, which lasts about six weeks, the male is in constant attendance to guard his spouse, boldly chasing off all intruders, and occasionally taking his place upon the nest. When first hatched, the young follow the mother about in the water, and are frequently carried on her back as she sails along the stream. Speaking of these birds in their wild state, Lloyd says, "In flying they make a strange appearance; their long necks protrude, and resemble at a distance long lines with black points; their heavy bodies and triangular wings seeming mere appendages to the prolonged neck. When thus in motion, their wings pass through so few degrees of a circle that, unless seen horizontally, they appear almost quiescent, their movements being widely different from the semicircular sweeps of the Goose. The Swan, when migrating, with a moderate wind in its favour, and mounted high in the air, travels at the rate of one hundred miles or more an hour. I have often timed the flight of the Goose, and found one mile a minute a common rapidity, and when the two birds, in a change of feeding ground, have been flying near each other, the Swan invariably passed with nearly double the velocity." The Mute Swan was first brought to England from the island of Cyprus by Richard I., and is still regarded as a royal bird which no