WHOOPING SWAN. G67 



whom she is acquainted from one side of the menagerie to 

 the other, especially ladies of the family dressed in white ; is 

 often turned out of her course by a pugnacious male Shiel- 

 drake, and acts only offensively when food is the object, and 

 then only when resentment is not expected. She eats but 

 little grass on land, but will devour aquatic plants occasion- 

 ally. Barley, however, is her principal food, and she never 

 attempts to touch bread, which is sometimes thrown to other 

 birds ; nor will she devour small fish, which some of the 

 diving Ducks greedily eat. 



" The egg is very small in proportion to the bird, being 

 not near so large as that of a China Goose, and is regularly 

 oval, about three inches long, and of a ferruginous colour, 

 with some white blotches about the middle, appearing as if 

 artificially stained." This, however, was an egg produced 

 under unfavourable circumstances ; for, as described by Mr. 

 Jenyns, the egg is " dull white, faintly tinged with greenish, 

 four inches one line in length, two inches eight lines in 

 breadth." 



Dr. Edmondston represents it as an occasional visitant in 

 Shetland in autumn and spring. Messrs. Baikie and Heddle 

 state that " Swans arrive in Orkney in October, and remain 

 until the end of March. When there has been a severe 

 winter north, they are occasionally seen so late as the end 

 of April. During the severe season of 1838, several Swans 

 were found dead, probably from the extreme cold. "While 

 here they frequent the loch of Stennis, and are also abun- 

 dant in Ronsay, in Sanday, and some other islands. For- 

 merly they used to breed on some of the small islets in the 

 loch of Stennis, but they have not been known to breed 

 there for many years." Mr. St. John states that they frequent 

 the estuary of the Findhorn, and feed in various retired 

 places of Morayshire. They are also sometimes seen on the 

 loch of Spynie, near Elgin. I have seen specimens of this 

 species killed at Peterhead, New Deer, Fy vie, Aberdeen, and 

 Montrose. Swans often appear on the Loch of Strathbeg, 

 the Lochs of Skene, Achlossan, and Cannar, in Aberdeen- 

 shire ; not unfrequently in the Basin of Montrose, and in 

 severe winters in the estuary of the Tay. 



