THE BIKDS OF HELIGOLAND 51'J 



312. — Whooper Swan [Sixgschwan]. 

 CYGNUS MUSICUS, Bechstein. 



Heligolandish : Swoan = /S«;a». 

 Cygnus xanthorhinus. Nauiuann, xi. 478. 



Whooper Swan. Dresser, viii. 433. 



Cygne a hec ymne. Temminck, Manuel, ii. S28, iv. 526. 



The musical talent of this bird can hardly be said to be of a 

 high order ; nevertheless, a flock of nineteen of them, which was 

 flying along in a long line, once made me believe that the sons of 

 a proprietor of a dancing-saloon close by had got possession of 

 some of the trumpets, and were giving free expression to their 

 musical fancies ; it was only when I noticed the real musicians, 

 travelling high above my head, that, to my great amusement, I 

 recognised my error. 



This Swan occurs here more or less numei-ously every winter, 

 being seen most frequently during long-continued frost ; on such 

 occasions it is nothing uncommon to see flights of ten, twenty, and 

 even much larger numbers, migrating high overhead in a long row 

 one behind the other, uttering loud trumpet-calls as they pass 

 along. 



The breeding i-ange of this species extends through the extreme 

 north of Europe and Asia. 



313. — Bewick's Swan [Kleiner Schwan]. 

 CYGNUS MINOR, Keyserling and Blasius.i 



Heligolandish : Liitj Swoan = Little Swan. 

 Cygnus melanorhinus. Naumann, xi. 497. 

 Bewick's Swan. Dresser, viii. 441. 



Cygne cle Bewick. Temminck, Manuel, iv. 527. 



This bird is seen here only extremely rarely, and only solitarj- 

 examples are ever met with; its almost total absence from the 

 island is, however, easily explained, as it is also very rarelj" 

 observed in Finland and Scandinavia. Its more numerous occur- 

 rence during the autumn and winter in Scotland, England, and 

 Ireland might, on the other hand, appear singvdar, were it not that 

 it merely affords another proof of a fact established as regards 

 other species — viz. that many migrants pursue a westerly flight 

 during the first part of their passage, and only subsequently turn 

 their course to the south. The same applies to the present species, 

 which breeds in Nova Zembla and the whole of the coast-region of 



' Cygnus hewicki, Yarr. 



