434 BREEDING AND DOMESTICATION. 



for a while confined to natural openings in the ice, caused by 

 springs and currents, then to be found everywhere in rivers 

 and lakes. As the season advances, however, and the ice 

 disappears, they separate in pairs, and retire to the more 

 sequestered of the mountain lakes and morasses. 



They make their nests, which are of a very large size, in 

 May or June, either on a floating tuft of grass in the water 

 itself, or on the strand hard by. The female lays six to seven 

 eggs, of a yellowish-white colour, somewhat shorter and 

 thicker than those of the mute swan. The period of incu- 

 bation is about six weeks, during which the male, though 

 he does not actually assist in the process, often sits alongside 

 of his mate in the nest ; the chicks are hatched in the 

 beginning of July. 



The hooper, though by nature a shy bird, may, if taken 

 young, be easily domesticated. Bechstein informs us that 

 in parts of Russia one finds it in a state of domesticity 

 more commonly than even the mute swan ; and Linnaeus 

 that, at the residence of the Governor of the province at 

 Calix, he saw three of those birds, which having been 

 captured at a tender age, were as tame as domestic geese. 

 It has bred with us in England, as known, both in the 

 Zoological Gardens, Regent's Park, and with the late Earl of 

 Derby at Knowsley, and possibly also in other places. 



Unless the hooper be taken young, however, it is not, I 

 imagine, easily tamed. Those in my possession, at least 

 and they had previously been in confinement for two years 

 or upwards it was impossible thoroughly to domesticate. 

 In fact they were always shy of people, and theft efforts to 

 escape from the pond where they were kept, were incessant. 

 This was more noticeable during the period of migration, 



