144 1'HF. NESTS AND EGGS OF 



Family ANATID.^. Genus Cygnus. 



Sub-family CYGNINAL. 



HOOPER SWAN. 



Cygnus musicus, Bechstei7i» 

 (British : Common autumn and winter migrant.) 

 Single Brooded. Laying season, late in May and in June. 



Breeding area : Northern Pal^earctic region. The 

 Hooper Swan breeds in the Arctic regions of Europe 

 and Asia, from the Atlantic probably to the Pacific. It 

 breeds in Iceland and in Scandinavia north of the Arctic 

 circle, but in Finland and Northern Russia is said to do 

 so as low as lat. 62^. Eastwards it breeds across the 

 tundras of Arctic Siberia as far as Bering Strait. 



Breeding habits : The Hooper Swan begins to 

 appear in its summer haunts about the middle of May, 

 just as the ice on the great rivers that flow into the 

 Arctic seas is breaking up, and it continues to arrive in 

 vast numbers up to the beginning of June, following the 

 break-up of winter northwards. This Swan is not 

 gregarious during the breeding season, living in scattered 

 pairs, each pair keeping its own haunt free from in- 

 trusion. The Hooper Swan mates for life. Its favourite 

 breeding grounds are situated on the islands in the deltas 

 of the Arctic rivers, or near the lakes on the open 

 tundras, or on the banks of the creeks that run inland 

 from the main river. The nest is generally made amongst 

 willow scrub, or the tall grasses and reeds that fringe the 

 pools. It is a huge pile of coarse grass, sedge, and frag- 

 ments of herbage, often largely increased in bulk as 

 incubation advances — elevated and strengthened, as it 

 were, in anticipation of any sudden rise of the adjoining 

 water. 



