HOOPEE. 



15f 



not like putting him again to the pain of drilling fresh 

 holes in his mandible, as the old ones were worn through; 

 and though we kept him many days, in hopes that he 

 might get accustomed to the loss of his false bill, and be 

 able to feed himself, we found him totally unable to do so. 

 As he was getting weaker and weaker, from want of suste- 

 nance, we were most reluctantly obliged to destroy this 

 attached and sagacious creature, having had him nearly 

 seven years.' 



The Swan was, I believe, formerly considered as a royal dish, 

 but it is not now much esteemed for the table. 



They fly in a long line, at times divaricated in the form 

 of a wedge, and go in flocks or teams of from four or five 

 to thirty, which unite together to the number of several 

 hundreds, at the times of migration. Their flight is easy and 

 well sustained, and usually conducted at a great height. It 

 is exercised without much noise, except on first rising or 

 alighting, when the sound may be heard to a considerable 

 distance. It is said that they can fly at the rate of above 

 one hundred miles an hour. They walk well, and can also 

 run with considerable rapidity. In swimming about, except 

 when feeding, the neck is carried in an upright posture, and 

 seldom in the arched manner characteristic of the other species. 

 In walking the neck is bent backwards over the body, and 

 the head lowered as if to preserve a proper balance. 



They feed on vegetable food of different kinds, the stems, 

 leaves, and roots of plants; grain and fruit, also insects, and 

 their larvae, young fish, frogs, and worms. 'The manner of 

 feeding in this species is peculiar; it not only seeks for its 

 food by preference in shallow water, but it turns up the boggy 

 ground, in order to obtain roots and worms; to such an extent 

 is this done, that where a number of these birds congregate, 

 the ground is perfectly broken up. The grain before-named 

 consists of barley especially, and oats; and the fruit, plums 

 in particular.' 



The note resembles the word 'hoop,' repeated ten or a dozen 

 times; hence the name of the bird. It is both loud, clear, 

 and sonorous, and sounds aloft like the clang of a trumpet. 

 Other inflections of their voice are expressed by Meyer, by 

 the syllables 'hang, hang,' 'grou, grou,' and 'killelee.' Montagu 

 writes that having killed one of this species out of a flock of 

 ten or twelve, its companions flew round several times, making 

 a most melancholy cry before they flew off. 'This,' he says, 



