l8 THE BIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



fij^uies and seldom mentioned, is that there is one patch in the 

 Whooper and two in Bewick's ; that is to say, the black on 

 the bill of the Whooper only reaches part way up the culmen, 

 whereas in this bird it extends to the forehead. This black 

 line bordered on either side by yellow is very noticeable when 

 the bird faces the observer. In the Whooper a band of colour 

 crosses the base of the bill. 



In general habits, food, flight, and appearance Bewick's 

 resembles the larger bird, with which it was long confused, but 

 on the average its visits are shorter. There are records of its 

 arrival in October, and Dr. Eagle Clarke gives November as its 

 usual month for Scotland, but as a rule it is in December, 

 January, and February that we see it ; it seldom remains until 

 March. It is more gregarious than the Whooper ; herds of 

 two or three hundred are not unusual, and in Ireland it is said 

 to be often present in thousands. It frequents salt-water lochs 

 and inlets, and though it occasionally wanders inland is on the 

 whole more maritime than the Whooper. Its flight call is 

 quite distinct, a sharp, repeated, barking note, loud and 

 metallic ; a puntsman I knew described a herd as yelping 

 'just like a lot of poodle puppies." Mr. H. W. Robinson 

 records that at night, on one of the Inner Hebrides, he re- 

 peatedly heard the " song," which "consists of the full octave, 

 and both ascends and descends " ; once he heard it in the 

 daytime. 



Many writers slate that wild swans sometimes show a reddish 

 or ochreous tinge on the head and neck, and Mr. W. P. 

 Pycraft has seen a dark copper hue. Years ago, however, 

 Stevenson pointed out that this is due to peroxide of iron 

 staining the plumage when the bird is feeding in certain 

 waters. Mr. Jourdain saw a Whooper deeply stained after 

 feeding in a peat bog, and I have seen Mutes deep red on the 

 head and neck on a pool where the weed and mud is thickly 

 covered with iron deposit. 



