THE WHOOPER SWAN 181 
THE BERNICLE GOOSE 
BERNICLA LEUCOPSIS 
Forehead, sides of the head, and throat, pure white; a dark streak between the 
eyes and bill; head,‘neck, quills, and tail, black ; rest of the upper plumage 
undulated transversely with ash-grey, black, and dull white; lower 
plumage white, tinged on the flanks with grey; irides dusky-brown ; 
bill and feet black. Length two feet one inch. Eggs greenish white. 
Tuts beautiful bird occurs chiefly on the west side of Great Britain 
in winter. ‘It then more frequently retires to the sea than to 
the lakes during its periods of repose, or when driven from its feed- 
ing-grounds. A large flock then presents a beautiful spectacle, 
as the birds sit lightly on the water, and when advancing elevate 
their necks. Not less beautiful do they seem when on wing ; now 
arranged in long lines, ever undulating ; at one time extending in the 
direction of their flight ; at another obliquely, or at right angles 
to it, sometimes in an angular figure, and again mingling together. 
Their voice is clear, and rather shrill, and comes agreeably on the ear 
when the cries of a large flock come from a considerable distance ’. 
In England it is far less common, but occasionally resorts to marshes 
both on the eastern and western coast. The mythical fragment of 
ancient natural history, that the Bernicle is the product of a tree, 
is too trite to require repetition here, 
THE WHOOPER SWAN 
CYGNUS MUSICUS 
Whole plumage pure white, the head and nape sometimes slightly tinged with 
yellow ; lower half of the bill quadrangular, yellow, upper black; lore 
and a great portion of the edge of the upper mandible yellow; irides 
brown; legs black; tail of twenty feathers. Young birds have the 
plumage grey ; lore flesh-colour. Length five feet ; breadth seven feet 
ten inches. Eggs dull white, tinged with greenish. 
THE ancient fable that Swans sing most sweetly before their death 
did not survive the age which invented it. Pliny disbelieved 
it, and, though the assertion may have been resuscitated from 
time to time as a poetic fiction, it has found no place in works on 
natural history. 
The Swan is not musical; it rests its claims to our admiration 
on other grounds, unchallenged and indisputable; the unsullied 
white of its plumage is an apt emblem of purity, and the elegance 
of its movements in the water has become proverbial. The present 
species, which owes its name to its powerful voice, is said to be 
not quite so graceful as the tame Swan, but on land it is far 
more active. A bird which has been winged by a sportsman. 
and has fallen on the land, can only be overtaken by smart running, 
