WILD SWANS 227 



approached with the wind. The birds, being heavy, 

 rise against it, launching themselves upon it to lift 

 their huge bulk. Consequently, if the fowler 

 approach them from windward, they must for a 

 time fly towards him, and so probably come well 

 within shot. The whooper when in this country 

 feeds upon grasses, floating weeds and the finer 

 fibres of aquatic plants. 



Bewick's swan is about one-third smaller than the 

 last. A winter visitant from the extreme north, it 

 sometimes flocks to these islands in thousands. 

 As many as five hundred have been seen on one loch, 

 though the species is far more numerous in Ireland 

 than in Scotland. The plumage is purely white, 

 like that of the whooper, birds of the year being 

 greyish brown. Little is known of the actual 

 nidification of Bewick's swan; but more than one 

 naturalist has discovered its breeding haunts on the 

 Siberian tundras and the Yenisei. 



Waiting for ducks among the reeds of a lonely 

 mountain tarn I had an opportunity of observing a 

 small flock of these swans for some time. The birds 

 came just at twilight, and upon the water were 

 buoyant and swift in their movements. They fed 

 upon the weed of the tarn, and were extremely 

 sharp of hearing. They were quick in rising and 

 flying, and when on the wing uttered a peculiarly 

 wild, deep whistle. 



