240 BRITISH SEA BIRDS. 
the bird-life of the sea, so far as ordinary observa- 
tion goes. 
Bewick’s Swan reaches its Arctic summer haunts 
towards the end of May. Although its eggs have 
been obtained on the islands in the deltas of the 
Petchora and the Yenesay, these were taken by 
unscientific observers. Mr. Trevor-Battye, so far 
as I know, was the first naturalist to see the nest 
and take the eggs of Bewick’s Swan, on the island 
of Kolguev. This nest—of which he gives a 
beautiful figure*—he describes as a mound, about 
two and a-half feet high, and four and a-half feet 
in diameter at the base, perfectly smooth, and 
tapering to the circular top, which was not more 
than two feet across. It was made of little bunches 
of green moss, with a few scraps of lichen, and a 
little dry grass pulled up with the moss. The 
cavity at the top was lined with dead grass, mixed 
with a little down. This nest contained three eggs. 
These are smaller and whiter than those of the 
Hooper. 
* Icebound on Kolguev, p. 43. 
