INSENSIBILITY TO COLD. 431 



Gothenburg. And if the bays and inlets be not entirely 

 frozen over as is seldom the case astounding numbers pass 

 the whole winter off the western coast of Sweden ; where, in 

 many places, the water is shallow, and the birds, in conse- 

 quence, have facility in procuring their food, at that time 

 consisting almost solely of sea- weed. Mr. Richard Dann, 

 whose estate, Tjoloholm, is situated in 57 30' N. latitude, 

 writes me that in February, 1846, he, with his telescope, 

 counted in Kongsbacka fjord alone, upwards of five hundred 



hoopers "So long as they can get their necks 



to the ground," he goes on to say, " they remain ; but when 

 the shoals become frozen over, they must of necessity 

 move off to other places." 



Even should the sea be generally congealed, and the 

 larger portion of the birds necessitated to retire elsewhere, 

 " very many," according to M. von Wright, " still remain 

 in the strong currents outside of the island of Oroust, which, 

 let the weather be ever so severe, are never covered with ice. 

 Here one commonly sees from a single pair to twenty or 

 thirty in company." 



In the rapids of the Gotha, near to Ronnum, the hooper 

 at times also remained throughout even severe winter ; and 

 the like is the case in Insjon, a large lake formed by the 

 Ostra Dai-Elf, in Eastern Dalecarlia, which, owing to the 

 strength of the current, is never entirely frozen over. In 

 places this lake is so shallow that the swans, without diving, 

 can with facility procure their food; and here about one 

 hundred winter annually. " If they are alarmed," we are 

 told, " they will fly up, but presently settle down again on 

 the ice in the vicinity ; but when the cause of disturbance is 

 removed, they return to the open water. They are very 



