in ornithology, a genus of birds belonging to the order of anseres. The beak of this genus is a little obtuse, covered with an epidermis or skin, gibbous at the base, and broad at the apex; the tongue is obtuse and fleshy; the feet are webbed and fitted for swimming. The species are,

1. The cygnus, ferus & manufactus.

a. The ferus, with a femicylindrical black bill, yellow wax, and a white body, is the wild swan of English authors, and a native of Europe and North America. Linnaeus says, they frequently visit Sweden after a thaw, and are caught with apples in which a hook is concealed. The wild swan frequents our coasts in hard winters in large flocks, but as far as we can inform ourselves does not breed in Great Britain. Martin * acquaints us, * Descrip. that swans come in October in great numbers to Lingey, one of the Western Isles; and continue there till March, when they retire northward to breed. A few continue in Mainland, one of the Orkneys, and breed in the little isles of the fresh-water lochs; but the multitude retires at the approach of spring. On that account, swans are there the country-man's almanack: on their quitting the isle, they prefigure good weather; on their arrival, they announce bad. These, as well as most other water-fowl, prefer, for the purpose of incubation, those places that are least frequented by mankind; accordingly we find that the lakes and forests of the distant Lapland are filled during summer with myriads of water-fowl; and there swans, geese, the duck-tribe, goosanders, divers, &c., pass that season; but in autumn return to us, and to other more hospitable shores. This species is less than the tame swan: length, five feet to the end of the feet; to that of the tail, four feet ten inches: extent of wing, seven feet three inches: weight, from thirteen to fifteen pounds. The cry of this kind is very loud, and may be heard at a great distance, from which it is sometimes called the Hooper.

a. The manufactus, or tame-swan. This is the largest Plate XII. of the British birds. It is distinguished externally from fig. 1, the wild swan; firstly, by its size, being much larger; secondly, by its bill, which in this is red, and the tip and sides black, and the skin between the eyes and bill is of the same colour. Over the base of the upper mandible, projects a black callous knob: the whole plumage, in old birds, is white; in young ones, ash-coloured till the second year: the legs are dusky; but Dr Plott mentions a variety found on the Trent near Rugeley, with red legs. The swan lays seven or eight eggs, and is near two months in hatching: it feeds on water-plants, insects, and shells. No bird, perhaps, makes so elegant a figure out of the water, or has the command of such beautiful attitudes in that element, as the swan: almost every poet has taken notice of it; but none with that justness of description, and in so pictur-esque a manner, as our Milton:

The swan, with arched neck Between her white wings mantling, proudly rows Her slate with easy feet.

In former times, it was served up at every great feast, when the elegance of the table was measured by the size and quantity of the good cheer. Cygnets are to this day fattened at Norwich, about Christmas; and are sold for a guinea a-piece.

Swans were formerly held in such great esteem in England, that by an act of Edward IV. c. 6. "no one that possessed a freehold of less clear yearly value than five marks, was permitted to keep any, other than the son of our sovereign lord the king." And by the eleventh of Henry VII. c. 17. the punishment for taking their eggs was imprisonment for a year and a day, and a fine at the king's will. Though at present they are not so highly valued as a delicacy, yet great numbers are preserved for their beauty; we see multitudes on the Thames and Trent, but nowhere greater numbers than on the salt-water inlet of the sea near Abbotsbury in Dorsetshire.

These birds were by the ancients consecrated to Apollo and the Muses;

And Callimachus, in his hymn upon the island of Delos, is still more particular:

When from Pactolus' golden banks Apollo's tuneful songsters, snowy swans, Steering their flight, seven times their circling course— Wheel round the island, caroling mean time Soft melody, the favourites of the Nine, Thus ushering to birth with dulcet sounds The God of harmony: and hence keen strings Hereafter to his golden lyre he gave; For ere the eighth soft concert was begun, He sprang to both.

Upon this idea of their being peculiarly consecrated to Apollo and the Muses (the deities of harmony,) seems to have been ingrained the notion the ancients had of swans being endowed with a musical voice. Though this might be one reason for the fable; yet there appears another stronger, which arose from the Pythagorean doctrine of the transmigration of the soul into the bodies of animals; from the belief, that the body of the swan was allotted for the mansion of departed poets. Thus Plato makes his prophet say,

"I saw the soul of Orpheus prefer the life of a swan."

After the ancients had thus furnished these birds with such agreeable inmates, it is not to be doubted but they would attribute to them the same powers of harmony that poets possessed previous to their transmigration: but the vulgar, not distinguishing between the sweetness of numbers and that of voice, ignorantly believed that to be real, which philosophers and poets only meant metaphorically.

In time, a swan became a common trope for a bard. Horace calls Pindar, Dirceaeum Cygnum; and in one ode, even supposes himself changed into a swan. Virgil speaks of his poetical brethren in the same manner,

Vare, tumn nomen Cantantes sublime ferent ad sydera cygni.

When he speaks of them figuratively, he ascribes to them melody, or the power of music; but when he talks of them as birds, he lays aside fiction, and, like a true naturalist, gives them their real note:

Dux somnium ranci per flagna loquacia cygni.

Thus he, as well as Pliny, in fact, gave no credit to the music of swans. Aristotle speaks of it only by hearsay. But, when once an error is started, it is not surprising that it is adopted; especially by poets, geniuses of all others of the most unbounded imaginations. For this reason, poets were said to animate swans, from the notion that they flew higher than any other birds; and Hesiod distinguishes them by the epithet of avian auspices, "the lofty flying swans."

Besides these opinions, the ancients held another still more singular, imagining that the swan foretold its own end. To explain this, we must consider the twofold character of the poet, water and poets, which the fable of the transmigration continues to the bird; or they might be supposed to derive that faculty from Apollo their patron deity, the god of prophecy and divination.

As to their being supposed to sing more sweetly at the approach of death, the cause is beautifully explained by Plato, who attributes that unusual melody to the same sort of ecstasy that good men are sometimes said to enjoy at that awful hour, foreseeing the joys that are preparing for them on putting off mortality:

They become prophetic; and, foreseeing the happiness which they shall enjoy in another state, are in greater ecstasy than they have before experienced.

2. The cygnoides, with a femicylindrical bill, gibbous wax, and tumid eye-brows: It is the swan-goose of Ray, from Guinea. There is likewise a variety of this species, of a less size, called the goose of Mulsoy.

3. The tadorna, or sheldrake, has a flat bill, a compressed forehead, a greenish black head, and the body is variegated with white. This species frequents the seacoasts of Europe, and breed in rabbit holes. When a person attempts to take their young, the old birds show great address in diverting his attention from the brood; they will fly along the ground as if wounded, till the former are got into a place of security, and then return and collect them together. From this instinctive cunning, Turner, with good reason, imagines them to be the chelopterex, or fox-goose, of the ancients: the natives of the Orkneys to this day call them the fox-goose, from an attribute of that quadruped. They lay 15 or 16 eggs, white, and of a roundish shape. In winter they collect in great flocks. Their flesh is very rank and bad.

4. The spectabilis, has a compressed bill, gibbous at the base, a black feathery carina, and a hoary head. It is the grey-headed duck of Edwards; and is a native of Sweden and Canada.

5. The fulica, or velvet duck, is of a blackish colour, has a white spot behind the eyes, and a white line on the wings. The male of this species is distinguished by a gibbosity at the base of the bill. It is the black duck of Ray, and a native of the European seas.

6. The nigra, or scoter, is totally black, and has a gibbosity at the base of the bill; the tail resembles a wedge; the female is brownish. It is the lesser black diver of Ray, and a native of Britain and Lapland. This bird is allowed in the Roman church to be eaten in Lent; and is the macreufe of the French. It is a great diver, said to live almost constantly at sea, and to be taken in nets placed under water.

7. The anser, ferus & manufactus; or grey lag, and bean-goose. The grey lag is two feet nine inches in length, and five feet in extent. The bill is large and elevated; of a flesh colour, tinged with yellow; the head and neck cinereous; breast and belly whitish, clouded with grey or ash colour; back, grey; the legs of a flesh colour. This species resides in the fens the whole year; breeds there, and hatches about eight or nine young, which are often taken, easily tamed, and esteemed most excellent meat, superior to the domestic goose. The old geese which are shot, are plucked, and sold in the market as fine tame ones; and readily bought, the purchaser being deceived by the size, but their flesh is coarse. Towards winter they collect in great flocks, but in all fens live and feed in the fens. The grey lag is the origin of the domestic goose; it is the only species that the Britons could take young, and familiarize; the other two never breed here, and migrate during summer. The mallard comes within the same description, and is the species to which we owe our tame breed of ducks; both preserve some of the marks of their wild state; the goose, the whiteness of the coverts of the tail and vent feathers; the drake, its curled feathers.—Tame geese are of vast longevity. Mr Willoughby gives an example of one that attained to 80 years. They are kept in great multitudes in the fens of Lincolnshire: a single person will have 1000 old geese, each of which will rear seven; so that towards the end of the season he will become master of 8000. During the breeding season these birds are lodged in the same houses with the inhabitants, and even in their very bed-chambers: in every apartment are three rows of coarse wicker pens, placed one above another; each bird has its separate lodge divided from the other, which it keeps possession of during the time of fitting. A person, called a gozzard, i.e. goose-herd, attends the flock, and twice a-day drives the whole to water; then brings them back to their habitations, helping those that live in the upper stories to their nests, without ever misplacing a single bird. The geese are plucked five times in the year: the first plucking is at Lady-day, for feathers and quills; and the same is renewed, for feathers only, four times more between that and Michaelmas. The old geese submit quietly to the operation, but the young ones are very noisy and unruly. If the season proves cold, numbers of them die by this barbarous custom. Vast numbers of geese are driven annually to London to supply the markets; among them, all the superannuated geese and ganders, which, by a long course of plucking, prove uncommonly tough and dry.

The bean-goose is two feet seven inches in length; in extent, four feet eleven. The bill, which is the chief distinction between this and the former, is small, much compressed near the end, whitish, and sometimes pale red in the middle, and black at the base and nail: the head and neck are cinereous brown, tinged with ferruginous; breast and belly, dirty white, clouded with cinereous; the back of a plain ash colour; feet and legs of a faun colour; claws black. This species arrives in Lincolnshire in autumn; and is called the bean-goose, from the likeness of the nail of the bill to a horse-bean. They always light on corn-fields, and feed much on the green wheat.

They never breed in the fens; but all disappear in May. They retreat to the sequestered wilds of the north of Europe; in their migration they fly a great height, cackling as they go. They preserve a great regularity in their motions; sometimes forming a straight line; at others, assuming the shape of a wedge, which facilitates their progress, for they cut the air readier in that form than if they flew pell-mell.

8. The erythropus, or laughing-goose of Edwards, is a native of Europe and America. The length of this species is about two feet four; the extent four feet six; the bill elevated, of a pale yellow colour, with a white ring at the base; the forehead is white; the breast and belly are of a dirty white, marked with great spots of black; and the legs yellow.

These visit the fens and other parts of England during winter, in small flocks; they keep always in marshy places, and never frequent the corn-lands. They disappear in the earliest spring, and none are seen after the middle of March. Linnaeus makes this goose the female of the bernacle; but Mr Pennant thinks his opinion not well founded.

The bernacle (erythropus mar, Lin.) is two feet one inch in length; the breadth four feet five inches; the bill is black; the forehead and cheeks are white; from the bill to the eyes, there is a black line; the hinder part of the head, the whole neck, and upper part of the breast and back, are of a deep black; the tail is black, the legs of the same colour, and small.

These birds appear in vast flocks during winter, on the north-west coasts of this kingdom: they are very shy and wild; but on being taken, grow in a few days as familiar as our tame geese. In February they quit our shores, and retire as far as Lapland, Greenland, and even Spitzbergen, to breed.

They live to a great age: the Rev. Dr Buckworth of Spalding, had one which was kept in the family above 32 years, but was blind during the two last; what its age was when first taken, was unknown.

There are the birds that about 200 years ago were believed to be generated out of wood, or rather a species of shell that is often found sticking to the bottoms of ships, or fragments of them; and were called tree-geese. There were also thought by some writers to have been the chenopodes of Pliny; they should have said chenopodes, for those were the birds which that naturalist said were found in Britain; but as he has scarce left us any description of them, it is difficult to say which species he intended. Mr Pennant imagines it to be the following; which is far inferior in size to the wild- goose, and very delicate food; in both respects suiting his account of the bernicles.

9. The bernicle, is of a brown colour; with the head, neck, and breast, black; and a white collar. The birds of this species frequent our coasts in the winter; in Ireland they are called bernacles, and appear in great quantities in August, and leave it in March. They feed on a sort of long grass growing in the water; preferring the root and some part above it, which they dive for, bite off, and leave the upper part to drive on shore. They abound near Londonderry, Belfast, and Wexford; are taken in flight-time, in nets placed across the rivers; and are much esteemed for their delicacy. Mr Willoughby, Mr Ray, and Mr Bridson, very properly describe the bernacle and brent as different species; but Linnaeus makes them synonymous, and describes the true bernacle as the female of the white-fronted wild-goose.

10. The canadensis is brown; its neck and head are black, and the throat is white. It is a native of Canada.

11. The ceruleans, is greyish above, and white underneath; the covert-feathers of the wings and back are bluish. It is the blue-winged goose of Edwards, and a native of Canada.

12. The mollifrons, or eider-duck, is double the size of the common duck, has a cylindrical bill, and the wax is divided behind, and wrinkled. The feathers, which are very soft and valuable, fall off during incubation. The male is white above, but black below and behind; the female is greenish. This species is found in the Western Isles of Scotland, particularly on Oran-fa, Barra, Rona, and Heisker, and on the Farn isles; but in greater numbers in Norway, Iceland, and Greenland; from whence a vast quantity of the down, known by the name of eider or edder, which these birds furnish, is annually imported: its remarkably light, elastic, and warm qualities, make it highly esteemed as a stuffing for coverlets, by such whom age or infirmities render unable to support the weight of common blankets. This down is produced from the breast of the birds in the breeding season. It lays its eggs among the stones or plants, near the shore; and prepares a soft bed for them, by plucking the down from its own breast: the natives watch the opportunity, and take away both eggs and nest: the duck lays again, and repeats the plucking of its breast: if she is robbed after that, she will still lay; but the drakes must supply the down, as her stock is now exhausted: but if her eggs are taken a third time, she wholly deserts the place.

Mr Pennant, when on the Farn isles, found the ducks fitting; and took some of the nests, the base of which were formed of sea-plants, and covered with the down. After separating it carefully from the plants, it weighed only three quarters of an ounce; yet was so elastic as to fill a larger space than the crown of the greatest hat. These birds are not numerous on the isles; and it is observed that the drakes keep on those most remote from the fitting places. The ducks continue on their nests till you come almost close to them; and when they rise, are very slow fliers. The number of eggs in each nest are from three to five, warmly bedded in the down; of a pale olive colour; and very large, glossy, and smooth.

13. The marila, or scaup-duck, is less than the common duck. The bill is broad, flat, and of a greyish blue colour; the head and neck are black, glossed with green; the breast is black; the back, the coverts of the wings, and the scapulars, are finely marked with numerous narrow transverse bars of black and grey; the legs are dusky. Mr Willoughby acquaints us, that these birds take their name from feeding on scamp, or broken shell-fish; they differ infinitely in colours, so that in a flock of 40 or 50 there are not two alike.

14. The moschata, or Mulcovy, duck of Ray, has a naked papillous face, and is a native of India.

15. The bahamensis, or Bahama duck, is grey, with a lead-coloured bill. It has a tawny spot on the sides, and a green yellowish spot on the wings. It is a native of Bahamas.

16. The alboola, or little black and white duck, has a black back and wings; the head is bluish, and white on the hinder part. It is a native of America.

17. The clypeata, or shoveler of Ray, has the end of its bill broad, rounded, and furnished with a small hook. It is found near the European shores.

18. The frepera, or gad-wall, has the wings variegated with black, white, and red. It frequents the fresh waters of Europe.

19. The bucephala, or lesser duck of Catesby, has the back and wings black; and the head, both above and below, is interpersed with shining silky feathers. It frequents the fresh waters of North America.

20. The clangula, or golden-eye of Ray, is variegated with black and white, and the head is interpersed with blackish green feathers; it has a white spot near the mouth; and the eyes are of a shining gold colour. It dives much in quest of shell-fish. It frequents fresh water as well as the sea, being found on the Shropshire meres during winter.

21. The rutlica, is brownish, or ash-coloured, with a white spot on the ears and wings. It is a native of North America.

22. The perspicillata, or great black duck, is white on the top of the head and of the neck; and has a black spot on the bill, immediately behind the nostrils. It is a native of Canada.

23. The glaucion, or greater wild-duck of Ray, has the iris of the eyes yellow, a grey head, and white collar. It frequents the northern shores of Europe.

24. The penelops, or widgeon of Ray, has a sharpish tail, black below; the head is brown, and the forehead white. It inhabits the marshy parts of Europe.

25. The acuta, pin-tail, or sea-pheasant of Ray, has a long acuminated tail, black below, with a white line on each side of the back part of the head. It is a native of Europe. Mr Hartlib, in the appendix to his legacy, tells us, that these birds are found in great abundance in Connaught in Ireland, in the month of February only; and that they are much esteemed for their delicacy.

26. The glacialis, or long-tailed duck, is inferior in size to the former. The bill is short, black at the tip and base, orange-coloured in the middle; the cheeks are of a pale brown; the hind-part of the head, and the neck both before and behind, are white; the breast and back are of a deep chocolate colour; the four middle feathers of the tail are black, and two of them near four inches longer than the others, which are white; the legs dusky. These birds breed in the most northern parts of Europe. 27. The ferina, pochard, or red-headed widgeon of Ray, has a lead-coloured bill; the head and neck are of a bright grey colour; the breast and part of the back where it joins the neck, are black; the coverts of the wings, the scapulars, back and sides under the wings are of a pale grey, elegantly marked with narrow lines of black; the tail consists of twelve short feathers, of a deep grey colour; the legs are lead coloured; and the irides of a bright yellow, tinged with red. The head of the female is of a pale reddish brown. These birds frequent fresh water as well as the sea; and being very delicate eating, are much sought for in the London markets, where they are known by the name of dum birds.

28. The querquedula, garganty, or first teal of Alrovandus, has a green spot on the wings, and a white line above the eyes. It frequents the fresh waters of Europe. In many places it is called the summer-teal.

29. The creca, or common teal, has a green spot on the wings, and a white line both above and below the eyes. It frequents the fresh waters of Europe. This species is to be met with in Duddingston-loch, a fresh-water lake, within a mile of Edinburgh.

30. The histrionica, or dusky-spotted duck of Edwards, is of a brown colour, variegated with white and blue; has a double line on the ears and temples; the collar is white, and there is a white streak on the neck. It is a native of America.

31. The minutia, or little white and brown duck of Edwards, is of a greyish colour, with white ears, and the prime feathers of the wings blackish. It is a native of Canada.

32. The circia, or summer-teal of Ray, with the wings variegated with white spots, a white line above the eyes, and the beak feet of an ash-colour. It frequents the lakes of Europe.

33. The autumnalis, or red-billed whistling duck of Edwards, is of a grey colour, with the prime feathers of the wings, the tail, and belly black; and the area of the wings yellow and white. It is a native of America.

34. The bolschans, or common wild-duck of Ray; the intermediate tail-feathers of the drake are turned backward, and the bill is flat. It frequents the lakes of Europe. This duck feeds upon frogs and several sorts of insects.—The wild ducks pair in the spring; build their nests among rushes or heath, near the water; and lay from 10 to 16 eggs. At mounting-time, when they cannot fly, they are caught in great numbers. They abound particularly in Lincolnshire, the great magazine of wild-fowl in this kingdom; where prodigious numbers are taken annually in the decoys. Birds with flat bills, that find their food by groping, have three pair of nerves that extend to the end of their bills; these nerves are remarkably conspicuous in the head and bill of the wild-duck; and are larger than those of a goose, or any other bird yet known: This is the reason they grope for food more than any other bird whatever.—The common tame species of ducks take their origin from these, and may be traced to it by unerring characters. The drakes, howsoever they vary in colours, always retain the curled feathers of the tail, and both sexes the form of the bill, of the wild kind. Nature sports in the colours of all domestic animals; and for a wife and useful end, That mankind may the more readily distinguish and claim their respective property.

35. The adunca, or hook-billed domestic duck of Ray, has the same characters with the bolschans, excepting that the bill is crooked.

36. The galericulata, or Chinese teal of Edwards, has a hanging crest; and on the hinder part of the back, on both sides, there is a crooked, flat, elevated feather; the crest is green and red; and the back is brown, and spotted with blue; and erect feathers on the back are red and blunt; one edge of the inmost wing-feather, when the wings are shut, is raised over the back, and is red, and like a sickle before. It is a native of China.

37. The sponsa, or summer-duck of Catesby, has a plate XII. depending green crest, variegated with blue and white; fig. 4. the back is likewise variegated with blue and white; the breast is grey, and spotted with white; and the throat is white. It is a native of North America.

38. The arborea, or black-billed whistling-duck of Plate XI. Edwards, is of a reddish brown colour, with a fort of fig. 3. crest on the head; the belly is spotted with black and white. It is a native of America. Sloane informs us, that this duck perches on trees; that it is about 20 inches long, from the end of the bill to the point of the tail; and that it makes a kind of whistling noise, from which circumstance it has received its name.

39. The fuligula, or tufted duck of Ray, has a hanging crest, a black body, and the wings and belly spotted with white. It is a native of Europe. The male of this species disappears during the incubation of the female.

40. The rufa, or ferruginous duck, described by Mr Pennant from one which was killed in Lincolnshire. The bill is long and flattened, rounded a little at fig. 5. the base, serrated along the edges of each mandible, and furnished with a nail at the end of the upper. The colour, a pale blue. The head, neck, and whole upper part of the bird, are of an agreeable reddish brown; the throat, breast, and belly, of the same colour, but paler; the legs of a pale blue, but the webs of the feet black.—This species is not mentioned by any other writer, except Linnaeus, who took his description from Rudebeck's paintings; and adds, that it is found, tho' rarely, in the Swedish rivers.