100 ANATID.K. 



produced tlicir young. At the time I saw these birds, I 

 also heard the voice of one of them, a very old and large 

 male. His note resembled the sound of the word " hoop," 

 repeating it loudly ten or twelve times in succession. At 

 the Gardens of the Zoological Society a pair of Hoopers bred 

 on one of the islands in the summer of 1889, and again 

 during this last season. A curious occurrence took place in 

 reference to the brood of 1839. The cygnets, when only a 

 few days old, were sunning themselves on the margin of one 

 of the islands, close to the deep water. The parent birds 

 were swimming near. A carrion crow made a descent and 

 struck at one of the cygnets ; the old male Hooper came to 

 the rescue in an instant, seized the crow with his beak, pulled 

 him into the water, and in spite of all his bufFetings and 

 resistance, held him there till he was dead. They make a 

 large nest of rushes and coarse herbage ; the egg is of a 

 uniform pale brownish-white, and measures four inches one 

 line in length, by two inches eight lines in breadth : incu- 

 bation lasts forty-two days ; the birds feed on grasses, weeds, 

 roots, and seeds of plants. In the eastern part of Europe 

 the Hooper ranges from the lakes of Siberia and Tartary in 

 summer, to the Caspian Sea in winter. M. Menetries says 

 that it is seen at Bakou in January and February. 



The Hooper may be immediately distinguished from other 

 species among the Swans, by the characters to be observed 

 about the head. Willughby, besides giving a figure of the 

 whole bird, introduced in addition the head only, of larger 

 size, to show the specific peculiarity. Edwards gave the 

 head of our Mute Swan on the same plate with his figure of 

 the Hooper, to show the distinction. This plan of engraving 

 the heads only has been adopted with excellent effect by Col. 

 Hawker, in his very popular work, and I have profited by his 

 example of giving the head only, of large size, rather than give 

 repetitions of similar white bodies. The first here introduced 



