THE NATURALIST.

Otago Witness, Issue 2624, 29 June 1904, Page 76

THE NATURALIST.

The RliK-k Swan.

Theie are f e v I'uVs th it p ■}*•-- ess a sreat-er hiftoncal interest t! a'i tie black swan. By the anCiCiits its exigence -,\aj, bchc-. cd to b^ an impr^sib'l 'y and spcai-ing of any mc 'cclibio occ'irenoe tl^ey employed tha phrase, "Kara a\xs in terris. mgroqu" siniiliima cyqno."' llie di-cc cry of this rerpaikabie airinal was made by a Dutch explorer, De Tpmi'ig, 1697. when ho found! ui'vubci ■> ot these bird-3 in the mouth of the •S\v ,n River, Western Australia, a colony" v, hch lies now most appiOTriaMy adopted! the bli'ck ,\\,in as ws armousl b^aiing. The now-, of the cbscovery of this remarkable bird was communicated to our own Eoval Society in 1608. Cook and other voyagers subsequently found that the species extended widely m Australia. Owing to the n:cicaso of population and the coion'sat.on cf the continent by Europeans, the blao'c sv-an has greatly decreased, and Profe^or New con thinks it wi I probably ees=e ■to exist as a wild bird, and that "its singular and ornamental appearance will pre-sc-ne it ci a domesticated captive m other countr es, and he say, that even now there aro doubtless more black swans in a reclaimed condition in other lands than wild ones at large in the mother country. Th:s is a remarkable- statement, when Dr Bennett, in his "Xatuialist in Australasia," states that he has seen a herd of them being driven like a Sock) of geese up one of the principal streets of Sydney. In our own country they weie introduced many years since. More than half a century ago they were successfully bred by Mr Samuel Guiney at Carshalton, and he recounts the following interesting particulars respecting them : —

'•They were purchased in 1351, and laid their first egg January 1, 1854: it was a most severe winter, snow on tho ground, and intense frost nearly the whole .time* they were sitting. It was observed that both sexes ass.st in the duties of incubation, the female usually remaining on the nesfc during tho night. They hatched the ; r> young during the. greatest cold of that wuiter, from which they did not suffer tnough they had no shelter of any kind, and their nest was fully exposed to the. east wind. Out of the 93 young ones hatched, about haif that number were reared."

Moct of the others were killed by falling into small holes in the fields, out of wlvch th«-y were unable to recover themselves. During seven years over 100 eggs we-re laid and 16 broods were hatched.

The carriage of the birds is not, perhaps, so qxaeeful as that of our white swan. T'"e entire _ plumage- is totally black, with the .eseornon of a part of the flight feathers, which are snow white. The beak is coralJiko, hut ha- a white tip, the eye^s bright rerl. and tho feet hlack. Both .'exes ars al'ke in colour. The pggs are pale green, and usrally from four ro eight in number. Incubation lasts f'em 34 to 37 days. A,\ pair bred in the Zoolog.cil Gardens *n= early as I£6K and a?ain in 1377, 1878, 1883. and 1885. The black swan is closely related: to our well-known white spe-ie=, but it differs in one si ght respect. The tube of the windpipe is not imbedded in the. breast bone, but is merely attached to it by a ligament. In other re=p<?ets iis anatomy is closely identical with that of the true swans.

My attention has been called to this species by Mr Justice Grantham. who informed me that the male of a pair of his black was found dead on the water after the female had commenced to lay. The circumstance was mysteriotis. as tho organs were found as if torn out lying on the surface of the wat»r. Whether the hen could hatch her eggs wi-thout the assistance of the male is uncertain. If the younar a'"<> hatched, tho season will not be at all aefainst them, as they d-o not suffer from the severity of the winter even when hatched in'ithe colder months.

"Waterfowl hybridise very bee^y. produe>ne in many cases progeny that are perfectly fertile, even when mated imter se, ns is the care with the Chinese and the- common oroose, which the late My Blyth informed me was the only goo=e reared over a larse extent; of country in °ome parts of the East ; but I have ne-v or m^t with a hybrid between the Australian black swan and ouv common species. The production would be interesting, though probaMv tbe> hvhridi would noc ro?s°ss )p remarkable attraction of pithrr parent. — "W. B. Tegetmeier, in the Field.

A Curious Animal. — The wonders of zoology are many, but probably in the whole ran^e of the science there will not be found any animal more curious or interesting than the ameeba. This tiny organism, which can be found on the surface of the mud ah the bottom of almost any =,tngnanr poo', is probably the simplest known form of animal life! It consists of a single cell of transparent lh ing matter — protoplasm— and having neither mouth, stomach, nor limbs, yet eats, (ingests, and moves as readily "as its more richly endowed relathes. An amefba mo r es by a flowingmotion, and eats by flowing round and over and enc^jlSivi- anv'mnv.te animal or vegetable orpcaimm that it comes unon. The Migration of Bird*.— Hishly valuable observations have been made of late* years with regard to the migrations cf bird', and some of the facts now definitely ascertained' upset many -of our popular beliefs. In a communication on the subiect to Xatnre, Mi "W. Eagle C'avke, who has de\oUd a large amount of -time to the inquiry, points out that ''a considerable pioportion of our nathe-brecl soag thrushes, blackbirds, -ikvlark*, starlings, rooks, lapwings, and other species, which are usually regarded as being wholly resident throughout the year, are migratory ; indeed, they a y e as essentially summer visitors to orr h'es as the swallow and the cuckoo." Ik is a curious fact that many bhds of tho Continent cro = s over the narrower part of the North Sea to this countiy for the win — no I'criVf-, l-"".!-;-^ cf our milder climate. Some of these* stay in Eng'and, others prefer Ireland, and some lea\e U3 fo- more southern lands. Mr Clarke, through a long re -idence on the Eddyctone Lighthouse, found that tl>e bud- aie capital metroroloa'Sts, taking athantaso in itheir fli«ht of the kind of atino-pheiie pie^suie di-triluition which -i.'t- them. T'-ey do not n-k a \ojage across til© Channel wl»*hi

the wind is high; if it exceeds a velocity of 40 miles an hour only swallows and martins venture forth. Otherwise., they tare little for the direction of the wind, and, for some occult reason, nearly all of them make the crossing at night time.