LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN WILD FOWL 279 



5, and 7, are creamy white, and small for the great size of the parent. They 

 are buried in down from the bird's breast, with which the nest is also lined. 



The followin<2: account of the breeding of this species in the West 

 Highlands of Scotland is published by Mrs. Audrej^ Gordon (1922), 

 as follows: 



On May 21, 1921, my husband and I went to a certain loch in the "West 

 Highlands hoping to photograph a black-throated diver whose nest we had 

 located on May 16. However, to our great disappointment the diver's eggs 

 had been washed out of the nest during the flood in the night of May 19-20. 

 Near a neighboring island, where many herons nested on low birch trees, 

 we saw a pair of whooper swans {Ci/(jni(.s ciignus) swamming. Suspecting a 

 nest, a search was made, and soon revealed the swan's nest with 4 eggs. It 

 was situated on a patch of green grass amid a mass of hummocks of blueberry 

 and heather and about 4 yards from the edge of the loch. The nest was com- 

 posed of dead grasses and weeds and was raised some 15 inches from the 

 ground level. A " hide " was constructed among the hummocks and from it a 

 watch was kept on the 22d and 23d. 



The swan always landed at exactly the same place, on a tiny sandy beach, 

 and approached the nest slowly, drying her breast feathers by rubbing them 

 with her head. While sitting she spent a good deal of time building up the 

 nest by pulling the grasses up and around her from the base of the nest. 

 Several times she stood up and laboriously turned the great eggs completely 

 over. Once she left the nest to feed and before doing so carefully covered the 

 eggs with the nesting material. On returning, however, she did not remove 

 the covering but wriggled it off the eggs with her body. Often she went to 

 sleep on the nest, her long neck lying along her back in tortuous curves. The 

 photograph shows clearly the distinguishing features of the whooper swan — 

 the large size, long straight neck held erect and not curved as in the mute 

 species, and the absence of knob or berry on the bill. Further proof of the 

 identity of the species was given by the hearing of the repeated calling of both 

 birds, a musical call, rather resembling that of the wigeon. 



Eggs. — This swan is said to lay from 3 to 7 eggs, but usually from 

 4 to 6. They are creamy or yellowish white at first but soon be- 

 come nest stained. The measurements of 75 eggs, as given in 

 Witherby's Handbook (1921) average 112.8 by 72.6 millimeters: 

 the eggs showing the four extremes measure 126.3 by 71.3, 114 by 

 77.4, 105.2 by 72, and 117 by 68.1 millimeters. The period of incuba- 

 tion is given as from 31 to 42 days, or as about five weeks. 



Food. — Mr. Cordeaux (1898) says on this subject: 



Swans feed on vegetable substances, as grass, and shoots of shrubs and 

 trees, and the roots and leaves of water plants, which their long necks enable 

 them to tear up from the bottom of the rivers and shallows of the lakes they 

 frequent. They will also eat grain when it can be got. 



Witherby's Handbook (1921) adds to the list of food taken in 

 summer, " fresh-water mollusca, worms, and acquatic insects." 



Behavior.— Rq\. F. O. Morris (1903) writes: 



They fly in a long line, at times divaricated in the form of a wedge, and go 

 in flocks or teams of from 4 or 5 to 30, which unite together to the number of 

 100449—25 19 



