232 HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS 



A remarkable capture of an immature Whooper 

 in Yorkshire is described by Mr. W. H. St. Quintin, 

 Field, Dec. 30, 1899. 



The weight of a male is 20 to 24 lbs. ; of a 

 female, 18 to 19 lbs. ; expanse of wing about 8 ft. 



BEWICK'S SWAN. Cygnus minor, Keys. & Blasius. 

 PL 27, figs. 10, 11. Length, 4 ft. ; bill, 3-75 m. ; wing, 

 21 in. ; tarsus, 4-75 in. 



A regular winter visitant, and, as above stated, 

 commoner in Ireland than the Whooper. Thirty 

 or forty in a flock are often met with, and in 

 severe winters over a hundred have been seen assem- 

 bled. In 1880, on December 17, according to Mr. 

 E.. Warren, more than 200 were seen on Lough 

 Cullen, Co. Mayo, and during the severe frost of 

 1881 as many as 800 were reported to be on the 

 lake at Castle Gregory, Co. Kerry. 



These birds usually arrive about the beginning 

 of December, that is to say, much later than other 

 wildfowl, and depart towards the end of February. 

 Their breeding haunts lie to the east of the White 

 Sea, where, amongst willow scrub on islands in the 

 delta of the Petchora river, Messrs. Seebohm and 

 Harvie-Brown were the first to discover their nests 

 and eggs {Ibis, 1876, p. 440). 



This is said to be the commonest of the Wild 

 Swans on the Arctic portions of the mainland of 

 Siberia and the low islands to the north. Seebohm 

 saw many hundreds flying northwards in spring 

 during his visit to the Yenesei, and obtained the 



