W HOOPER 73 



Whoopcr. 



Cygnus inusicus* 



The whooper, often distinguished at home as the " wild 

 swan," is a far rarer visitant to India than the mute swan, 

 having been recorded in India less than half-a-dozen times. 

 The earliest record was, curiously enough, in Nepal, and many 

 years before the first record of the mute swan, namely, in 1829. 



All the other specimens have been got in the North-west, 

 more than one having sometimes been seen. 



This swan is not noticeably smaller than the other, and is 

 also drab in the first feathering, though white in the down as 

 well as when adult; but it is easily distinguishable at all ages, 

 because the bare patch of skin on the face is always pale, not 

 black — greenish-white in the young, and bright yellow in the 

 adult. The end half of the bill, or less, is black, the old one's 

 beak being black up to the basal end of the nostrils above, 

 though the black does not reach beyond the further end of 

 them below; the rest of the bill is yellow, continuous with the 

 yellow face. 



The real difhcult3Ms' to distinguish this bird from Bewick's 

 swan, whose distinctions, however, are given below. The bill 

 has no knob, and is longer than in the mute swan, while the 

 nostrils are situated farther forward, being in the middle of 

 the bill, while in the other bird they are nearer the base than 

 the tip. 



Other distinctions are the short blunt tail, the mute swan's 

 being pointed ; the straight goose-like carriage of tlie neck, and 

 especially the voice, which in this species is a beautiful trumpet- 

 call. This is evidently the swan celebrated in ancient story as 

 singing before its death; in fact, one bird shot in India, on the 

 River Beas, being only winged, "continued to utter its long, 

 loud, musical trumpet-call," while the three birds which had 

 accompanied it were still in sight, as recorded by General Osborn, 

 who shot it, m a letter to Mr. Stuart Baker. 



The whooper is a true northern bird, being found in the 



* ferns on plate. 



