492 CYGNUS MUSICUS. 
CYGNUS MUSICUS, Bechstein. 
HOOPER. 
The Wild Swan comes into the country surprisingly early, some 
weeks before the rivers and lakes are open, even as it would seem in 
March, the “Swan month” of the Lapp calendar, which name, 
however, we must remember was given under the Old Style, when 
March was really a fortnight later in the solar year than it is now. 
It selects a place for its nest in the middle of some great open marsh, 
and stands and waddles about the spot while the snow is going away, 
assisted by the bird in its departure in several ways according to the 
relation of eye-witnesses. Conspicuous as it thus is from a great 
distance at the site of its nest, and therefore so easy to trap or snare, 
this fine bird has little chance of remaining unmolested anywhere 
near man. Within a few years, however, a pair or two have bred 
not more than fifty or sixty English miles from Muonioniska. Now 
I am afraid the last of them have been trapped or shot away. I have 
found bones of the Wild Swan with those of Bears and wild 
Reindeer about the old altars of the Lapps in this neighbourhood. 
They are still to be found towards the head of the river Tornea, and 
a good many pairs breed in the district where Norway, Finland, and 
Russia proper come together. But most of the birds that pass over 
here are believed to go to Nova Zembla. The Russian sailors who 
frequent that land say they breed there, and a man I know, who lives 
on the north-west coast of the White Sea, tells me that after stopping 
a short time in his neighbourhood in the spring, the greater part fly 
right away to [paper torn off | as they would do if making for 
Nova Zembla. The priest of Utsjoki is, I am informed, very fond 
of Swans’ eggs, and he eats them for his breakfast. I have not seen 
a nest myself, so must refer you to the well-known account of one 
in an early Arctic voyage, which, if I remember right, is also given in 
Richardson’s ‘Fauna Boreali-Americana’ [vol. ii. p. 465]. Only 
fancy a preserve of Hoopers! There is in the south of Sweden an 
English gentleman [Mr. Dann], whose name is well known to 
‘ornithologists, who may be almost said to have such a preserve on 
his estate [Tjdloholm 7], for large flocks are to be seen for months 
tegether on a small bay there which he carefully prevents being 
disturbed. I had the pleasure under the guidance of their protector 
of watching them with a glass, and of hearing the delicious music 
