HOOPER. 193 



are easier of access than many other wild birds ; and if, 

 when flying, they are fired at directly under the hollow 

 of the wing, or, when swimming, through the head, they 

 may be stopped at a reasonable distance, with a common 

 double gun and small shot; perhaps even farther than 

 other wild-fowl, as, when struck in the body, they become 

 helpless from their weight, and their heads are less likely 

 to escape between the shot than those of smaller fowl. 

 No birds vary more in weight than Hoopers. In the last 

 winter, 1838, I killed them from thirteen to twenty-one 

 pounds. On one occasion I knocked down eight at a shot, 

 seven old ones and a brown one, and they averaged nine- 

 teen pounds each. The old gander was only winged ; and 

 when he found himself overtaken by my man, Read, he 

 turned round and made a regular charge at him." 



These birds visit Holland, France, Provence, and Italy ; 

 and Mr. Bennett says they sometimes go as far south as 

 Egypt and Barbary. They visit Corfu and Sicily in very 

 severe winters, and Mr. Drummond saw a few on the lakes 

 of Biserta, and one on the lake of Tunis at the end of 

 April, 1845. 



Linneus saw Wild Swans several times during his tour 

 in Lapland, and mentions that at the residence of the 

 governor of the Province at Calix, he saw three, which 

 having been taken when young, were as tame as domestic 

 Geese. 



Mr. Dann, in his note to me of this bird, says, " The 

 Wild Swan appears in Lapland with the first breaking up 

 of the ice, and is the earliest of all the Anatidae in its 

 return north. They frequent the most secluded and unin- 

 habited swamps and lakes in the wooded districts, and are 

 found only in scattered pairs south of Juckasierva ; thence 

 in a north-eastern direction they are reported to be very 

 numerous, but I did not fall in with any during my stay 

 in Lapland." 



VOL. in. o 



