432 MIGRATION. 



little molested by sportsmen, and years may pass without 

 any of them being shot. These birds, it is believed, never 

 proceed farther to the southward than the lake in question. 

 Towards the setting in of the winter, they come from the 

 north ; and at the breaking up of the frost in the spring, they 

 direct their flight in the same direction." 



From personal observation I can also testify to the hardi- 

 hood of the hooper, two of which I once had for near a year 

 in my own possession ; for however severe the weather might 

 be, they appeared not to suffer in the slightest degree. Nor 

 could I at such times, except by compulsion, get them under 

 cover, which under the like circumstances the mute swan 

 seems glad to seek. 



Unfortunately I never noted down the exact period when 

 the hooper migrated to the southward, or when, on its return, 

 it bent its course for Lapland ; but this would have been in 

 degree useless, as regarded the autumn at least, because so 

 much depended on the state of the weather ; for if the frost 

 set in unusually soon, this bird appeared early, and if late, the 

 reverse. Mr. Dann, however, paid attention to this matter, 

 for in his communication to me he says : " They (the hoopers) 

 leave me to a day in the spring. I have marked their de- 

 parture for three successive years namely, on the 15th of 

 April. In the afternoon of that day they fly in large circles, 

 and in flocks of from twenty to thirty, around the bay that 

 they frequent the most during the winter, and then fly inland, 

 steering east by north." 



M. von Wright tells us something to the like effect. 

 " The larger portion migrate from hence (Oroust) in April, 

 almost always in a north-easterly direction ; they commonly 

 fly low, and in larger or smaller flocks. One often at these 



