318 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



flock of twenty in Wigtown Bay, and small parties were constantly 

 seen all over the Stewartry — particularly at the end of Dec. and 

 in Jan. And Capt. M'Donald, of Stein, Skye, writes — " I believe 

 that there were more Swans seen along the coast than for many 

 years before. Those who saw them could not tell any difference 

 between them and those of previous years."* 



BEWICK'S SWAN. 

 Cygnus bewicki, Yarrell. 



Great numbers of this species have occurred on our coasts. 

 Several which came into the hands of Edinburgh naturalists were 

 at first supposed to be Cygnus americanus. One received by Mr. 

 Robt. Small, Edinburgh, shot on 29th Dec, 1879, out of a flock of 

 1 young and 26 adult birds, in Islay, was got by Mr. M'Neil. It 

 was reported as "the largest of the flock." 



Five Wild Swans were sent to the Edinburgh market, three 

 being shot at Tain by Mr. Jennings,! and two in Argyllshire. 

 Four of them, purchased by Mr. Hope, naturalist, Edinburgh, 

 were all supposed to be of this species. I saw all the above in 

 Jan. The identifications were based upon the original description 

 of one by Macgillivray, but subsequent inquiry has made it 

 doubtful if these birds really belonged to this species. From a 

 scarcity of both old and young specimens of G. americanus and 

 of G. bewicki in British collections, it still remains doubtful if 

 they were correctly diagnosed. 



From our knowledge, however, of the laws which appear to 

 govern migration in autumn, I am of opinion that the original 

 starting point of the Swans which visit our shores is not west of 

 Iceland, but probably from Iceland and from the N.E., or from 

 more N. localities across the pole. It seems to me a transpolar 

 migration theory is always open to probability, but a migration 

 from west to east highly improbable in the N. portions of our 

 northern hemisphere. 



Prof. Newton, in lit., to Mr. J. J. Dalgleish, 9th March, 1880, 

 says — " I herewith enclose sketches, showing the bill of an adult 

 G. bewicki, and that of an immature G. americanus, as I judge it 



This is in reference to the unusual numbers of Bewick's Swan which 

 visited our coasts this year. 



t A fourth, shot by Mr. Jennings at the same time, was used at table, 

 and proved excellent food. 



