100 BIRDS OF rTlTERNSEY. 



continued, the Mute Swan might Avell be added to 

 the somewhat unreasonable Hst of birds in the 

 Guernsey Sea-birds Act ; at all events, Swans would 

 be better worth preserving than Plongeons or 

 Cormorants. 



138. Hooper. Cijgnus niusiais, Bechstein. 

 French, " Cygne sauvage." — The Wild Swan or 

 Hooper* is an occasional visitor to the Channel 

 Islands in hard winters, sometimes probably in 

 considerable numbers, as Mrs. Jago (late Miss 

 Cumber) told me she had had several to stuff in a 

 very hard winter about thirty 3'ears ago ; some of 

 these w^ere young birds, as she told me some were 

 not so white as others. Mr. MacCuUoch also says 

 that the Hooper visits the Channel Islands in severe 

 winters ; and the capture of one is recorded by a 

 correspondent of the ' GuernseyMail and Telegraph' 

 for 4tli January, 1879, as having been shot in that 

 Island a few days before ; it is said to have been a 

 young bird, grey in colour. The v^^iter of the 

 notice, while distinguishing this bird from the Mute 

 Swan, does not, however, make it so clear whether 

 it was really the present species or Bewick's Swan; 

 from the measurement of the full length (5ft. 3in.) 

 given, however, it would appear that it was the 



* "HucarcVin Guernsey French (see ' Metevier's Dic- 

 tionary,' who also says " Notre Hucard est le Whistling 

 Swan ou Hooper Jes Anglais." 



