96 BRITISH BIRDS WITH THFIR NESTS AND EGGS. 



Family ANA TID^f.. 



MUTE SWAN. 



Cygmis olor, GMEL. 



IT is somewhat remarkable that Professor William Macgillivray, the most acute 

 of observers, and occupying the foremost place amongst the ornithologists of 

 a past generation, should have omitted (except in half-a-dozen lines) any mention 

 of the present species. 



Cygmis olor, in a perfect!}' wild state, breeds in many parts of Europe, from 

 the Baltic as far south as Greece, and from the Rhine to the Volga. It nests in 

 limited numbers in southern Scandinavia, and possibly Denmark. Mr. Hartert 

 says it breeds in small numbers in some of the great lakes of eastern Prussia. 

 It also occurs sparingly in Transylvania. In Turkey, both in summer and winter.* 

 Common in the Caucasus, and breeding in the delta of the Terek. Is a common 

 summer visitor to Astrakhan, nesting in the delta of the Volga, and in the northern 

 Caspian. According to Severtzoff, it nests regularly in north-eastern and north- 

 western Turkestan. Dr. F. H. Guillemard found it in Cyprus, in April, (" The 

 Ibis," 1888, p. in). Dr. Alex. Bunge has recorded it on Sagastyr Island, at the 

 mouth of the Lena, in summer, and if he is correct, this will extend the range 

 of our bird further to the north-east than has been supposed. 



In winter it has been obtained once in Heligoland, in 1881, and again, once, 

 man}' years before. It has been recorded in Spain by Mr. Howard Saunders. Mr. 

 A. B. Brooke says it is the commonest wild Swan visiting Sardinia. In Italy it 

 is only common in severe winters in a wild state. Many frequent and breed on 

 the Swiss Lakes in a semi- wild state, (Saunders). Mr. C. A. Wright has recorded 

 a flock in the Harbour, at Malta, in December, 1865. It has been seen also in 

 north-west India in winter, and visits the lakes of Egypt and Algeria in the same 

 season ; and in Asia the southern Caspian. 



The circumstance of the Mute Swan, as already stated, occurring in Cyprus 

 is interesting, from the fact that this bird is said first to have been introduced 

 into this country from that island, at the close of the twelfth century, by Richard 

 I, Ceur-de-lion. 



* Messrs. Elwes and Buckley, " The Ibis," 1870, p. 338, have recorded seeing a mixed flock of Whoopers 

 and Mute Swans, about a thousand, in the Gulf of Salonica. on February, 1869. 



