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The black swan (Cygnus atratus) is a large waterbird, a species of swan which breeds mainly in the southeast and southwest regions of Australia. Within Australia, the black swan is nomadic, with erratic migration patterns dependent on climatic conditions. It is a large bird with black plumage and a red bill.
In the second century, the Roman poet Juvenal made a sarcastic reference to a good woman being a "rare bird, as rare on earth as a black swan" (black swans being completely unknown in the Northern Hemisphere until Dutch explorers reached Australia in the 1600s), from which comes the Latin phrase rara avis (rare bird). [44]
The black swan was noted by all of the early European maritime explorers who sailed along the Western Australian coast. In 1697 the Dutch explorer Willem de Vlamingh sailed into and named the 'Swaanerivier' after the birds. [1] In 1826 the British explorer Captain James Stirling recorded seeing some 500 black swans flying over the Swan River.
The Roman satirist Juvenal wrote in AD 82 of rara avis in terris nigroque simillima cygno ("a rare bird in the lands, and very like a black swan"). [6] He meant something whose rarity would compare with that of a black swan, or in other words, as a black swan was not thought to exist, neither did the supposed characteristics of the "rare bird" with which it was being compared.
The Royal Swans are a flock of swans of two species—the mute swan (Cygnus olor) and the black swan (C. atratus) [1] [2] —the original six pairs of which were a gift to the city of Ottawa from Queen Elizabeth II in 1967, to commemorate the Canadian Centennial.
In March, a mother was horrified to find a pedophile symbol on a toy she bought for her daughter. Although the symbol was not intentionally placed on the toy by the company who manufactured the ...
State bird emblem Black swan Cygnus atratus: Black swan: 25 July 1973 State animal emblem Numbat Myrmecobius fasciatus: Numbat: 25 July 1973 State fossil emblem Gogo fish Mcnamaraspis kaprios: 5 December 1995 State marine animal emblem Whale shark Rhincodon typus: Whale shark: 12 November 2013 State tartan: Western Australia (Scottish ...
“It was originally a southern Black pronunciation, exaggerated for effect.” "Gyat" emerges from similar origins. “GYAT evolved from ‘goddamn,’” explains McWhorter.