PRELIMINARY CLASSIFIED NOTES 173 



of Salix lanata and Vaccinium uliginosum. Earth and even stones are sometimes 

 used. Faber states that the nest is built by the female, but in captivity a male 

 bird has been seen to shape the nest with his breast as the mute-swan does, and it 

 is more probable that he takes some part in the work. Feathers and down are 

 scattered about, but there is no regular down lining, as with the Geese and Ducks. 

 The eggs are large, creamy white when fresh, but soon stained with peat and mud 

 till they assume a dirty reddish brown hue from nest stains, but have no greenish 

 tinge. They vary, as a rule, from four to six in number, rarely seven, and the 

 average size of 58 eggs is 4-43x2-86 in. [112-6x72-7 mm.]. Incubation, according 

 to Faber and Hantzsch, is performed by the female alone, and lasts 35-40 days 

 (Hantzsch), 40 days (Faber), while in captivity a clutch was hatched out in 42 days 

 at Harewood Park. From observations on a captive bird it seems probable that the 

 male uncovers the eggs and takes short turns while the female feeds. In Iceland 

 eggs may be found from early in May to the end of June, and I have known young 

 to be hatched by June 14. In Russian Lapland Pearson found eggs as late as 

 July 4, but the smallness of the clutch and the late date suggest a second laying. 

 Only one brood is reared in the season, but two clutches may be laid if the first 

 is taken. [F. c. B. j.] 



5. Food. The food consists, as with the other swans, chiefly of the roots 

 and stems of aquatic plants, but grass is also eaten. St. John noted that in 

 Scotland its food consisted almost entirely of Glyceria fluitans and 0. aquatica, 

 water grasses with bulbous roots. Naumann detected Trifolium repens and T. 

 fragiferum in the crops of birds examined by him, and also states that its diet 

 includes, besides aquatic plants, water insects and their larvae, worms, small frogs, 

 possibly also small fishes. Sand and small stones are also found in the gizzard, 

 and corn is occasionally taken when available, as well as acorns and fruit. 

 [F. c. B. J.] 



6. Song Period. Probably varies according to the time of breeding. In 

 the case referred to below the birds had not begun to nest, although other pairs 

 had young on the water. [F. c. B. j.] 



BEWICK'S SWAN \Cygnus bewickii Yarrell. French, cygne de Bewick ; 

 German, Schwarznasiger Schwan ; Italian, cigno minore]. 



I. Description. Bewick's can readily be distinguished from the whooper- 

 swan, which it resembles, by its much smaller size, and the fact that the orange- 

 yellow of the base of the beak is much smaller in area, not extending beyond the 



