4l8 MUTE SWAN. 



in considerable numbers in Central and Southern Russia, and on 

 the Lower Danube ; sparingly on some of the lakes in Greece ; 

 more abundantly in the vicinity of the Black and Caspian Seas, and 

 in Turkestan. In winter the Mute Swan occurs on the waters of the 

 greater part of Europe, and is a regular visitor to the lakes of Algeria 

 and Egypt : it can also be traced through Asia to Mongolia, and to 

 North-west India. 



According to the late Mr. H. Stevenson, Swans pair for life, and 

 build a fresh nest each season : this is generally on a small island or 

 peninsula, and is a large structure of reeds or coarse herbage. The 

 females do not lay until their second year — some not till the third 

 or fotjrth — and commence with 3-5 eggs, but later the clutch some- 

 times consists of 10-12, which are dull greenish-white, averaging 

 4 in. by 2-9 in. With wild birds incubation begins in IMay, but it is 

 earlier in a state of semi-domestication. The young are hatched in 

 about 36 days and are carefully tended by their mother, who 

 frequently carries them on her back, to which she sometimes raises 

 them with her foot, at the same time sinking her body low in the 

 water. The food consists of water-plants (such as Chara), aquatic 

 insects (S:c., also of grain, and bread. The note of the wild bird in 

 pairing-time is loud and trumpet-like, but it is fainter in tame 

 individuals. 



The adult male has the greater part of the bill reddish-orange, 

 nail, nostrils, lores and the basal tubercle or " berry " black ; plumage 

 white; legs and feet black. Length 56-60 in.; wing 27 in. The 

 female is smaller and has far less tubercle. The cygnet is sooty- 

 grey above, and paler below, with lead-coloured bill and legs. 



In the so-called " Polish " Swan, C. immuiabilis of Yarrell, the 

 cygnets are white, while the adult is said to have a less developed 

 tubercle and ash-grey legs and feet ; but neither the late Mr. A. D. 

 Bartlett nor I could find these distinctions in old birds in the 

 Zoological Gardens which had been white as cygnets, ^^'ith the 

 exception of a bird obtained in Holland in December 1840, few — if 

 any — specimens of the " Polish " Swan are known to have occurred 

 outside the British Islands ; and it is now generally considered by 

 ornithologists to be a mere variety as regards the colour of the young. 

 As pointed out by Prof. Newton, white cygnets were noticed on the 

 Trent 200 years ago, while in 1885, 1886, and 1887 a pair of Swans 

 at Cambridge produced broods in which some of the young were 

 abnormally white (Zool. 1887, p. 463; 1888, p. 470); and Count 

 Salvadori states that "none of the characters attributed to 

 C. itnmiiiabilis are constant" (Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxvii. p. 38). 



