WATER FOWL OF INDIA AND ASIA. 9 
Their nest is a large structure, built upon the ground, 
and it has been observed with the tame species that the 
bird is continually anxious to raise it, as if always 
haunted by dread of a flood. 
The parents defend thenest vigorously, their wings 
being the chief weapons in fighting, for the Mute Swan 
at all events has very little power in the bill. I have 
let a vicious old male in the London Zoo, years ago, 
chew away at the back of my hand as much as he liked, 
and he could hardly graze the skin. 
Both male and female are alike in their pure white 
plumage, the former being rather larger in size ; the 
young differ from both in being of a dull brownish grey, 
with less brilliantly-coloured beaks than their parents. 
The feet are black or dark grey in old birds at all events. 
Both of our species are much of a size, and the distinc- 
tive characters are mainly to be sought in the form and 
colour of the bill. 
The Mute or Tame Swan may be distinguished at all 
ages by having the front edge of the nostril nearer to 
the root of the bill than to the tip ; while the Whooper, 
like a goose, has the front edge of the nostril about the 
middle of the beak. 
The Mute or Tame Swan. 
Cygnus olor, BLANFORD, Faun. Brit. Ind., Birds, 
Worl lV; poar3: 
VERNACULAR NAMEs. (No special name exists, 
but Hume says that in the N.-W. Punjab Swans are 
known by the name Peny, this being usually appled 
to Pelicans.) 
The Mute Swan has, when adult, a knob at the base of 
the bill, which is orange-red, the nail, nostrils, edges, 
knob and triangular bare space between bill and eye 
being black. The female has a smaller knob than the 
