On a new species of wild swan, taken in England, and hitherto confounded with the hooper / by William Yarrell.

  • Yarrell, William, 1784-1856.
Date:
[1830?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On a new species of wild swan, taken in England, and hitherto confounded with the hooper / by William Yarrell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    XXIII. On a new Species of Wild Swan, taken in England, and hitherto confounded with the Hooper. By William Yarrell, Esq. F.L.S. Read January 19> 1830. It is now about six years isince I prepared and preserved the trachea and part of the bones of a young Wild Swan, shot in this country, which, possessing peculiarities I had never ob- served in the bones of the Hooper at any age, induced me to believe it would prove to belong to a distinct species. At the sale of part of the valuable Museum of Joshua Brookes, Esq., I became possessed of the sternum and trachea of a Wild Swan which had been prepared by Dr. Leach, and presented by that distinguished naturalist to Mr. Brookes ; this also, fiom its anatomical structure, appeared to be distinct from that ot the Hooper, and is now ascertained to belong to an adult bird of the same species as the bones of the young one just men- tioned. I was presented in December last, by I. B. Baker, Esq., with the sternum and trachea of a third example of this new species, shot at Yarmouth during the winter of 1827-28, and of which I had an opportunity of examining the skin while under prepa- ration for mounting for that gentlemans collection at Hard- wicke Court. In age and consequent developement of structure, this third example was intermediate between the two I at that time pos- sessed, and proved a valuable addition. During the late severe weather, Wild Swans were unusually numerous.