The Tribe of the Wild Swans 



2. THE WHOOPER SWAN 



THE whooper swan does not, in ordinary circumstances, 

 congregate in large companies as does his smaller cousin, 

 the Bewick swan. Generally whoopers may be seen in twos 

 or threes, swimming majestically on the dark waters of 

 some mountain loch or eagerly feeding on the weeds, after 

 the manner of the domesticated mute swan. And indeed 

 they may not easily be distinguished from the latter bird, 

 for in size they closely approach it. But whereas the mute 

 swan holds his neck in a graceful arch, the whooper carries 

 his outstretched, and after the fashion of a goose. Then 

 again, there is this difference between the two birds, namely 

 that the pronounced knob or "berry" at the base of the 

 bill of the domesticated swan is entirely absent in the case 

 of the whooper. These differences are important, for our 

 own mute swan often migrates to a certain extent in a semi- 

 wild state, and it is probable that a number of the reports 

 which one reads from time to time of wild swans taking 

 up their quarters on some loch refer in reality to mute 

 swans in their wanderings. 



It is late in the autumn ere the whooper swans make 

 their appearance on the lochs of the Western Highlands. 

 Nesting as they do, to a large extent, in Iceland, the winter's 

 cold comes to them somewhat later than to those birds 

 breeding well within the Arctic Circle, and so they are longer 

 in commencing their migration south. 



After a spell of north wind, in the early days of 

 December, several whoopers made their appearance on a 

 hill loch of western Ross-shire. It was on a perfect winter's 

 day that I got my first sight of the birds. Not a breath 

 of wind stirred on the moors, and the winter's sun, though 

 low in the sky, was shining bright and warm on the 

 desolate countryside. Climbing a small hill, I had before 

 me a vast panorama of mountain and island. Northward 



J 129 



