484 BRITISH BIRDS. 



CYGNUS BEWICKI. 

 BEWICK'S SWAN. 



(PLATE 58.) 



x 



Cygnus olor, /3. minor, Pull. Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat. ii. p. 214 (1820). 



Cygnus bewickii, Yarrell, Trans. Linn. Soc. xvi. p. 453 (1833) ; et auctorum pluri- 



xnorum Temminck, Macgillivray , Bonaparte, Dresser, Sounders, &c. 

 Cygnus minor (Pall.), Keys. Sf Bias. Wirb. Eur. p. Ixxxii (1840). 

 Cygnus melanorhinus, Naum. Vog. Deutschl. xi. p. 497 (1842). 

 Cygnus niusicus minor (Pall.), Schleg. Rev. Crit. p. cxii (1844). 

 Olor minor (Pall.}, Bonap. Cat. Parzud. p. 15 (1856). 

 Cygnus altuniii, Baed.Jide Schleg. Mus. Pays-Bus, Anseres, p. 82 (1866). 



Bewick's Swan was discovered by Pallas nearly a century ago, but was 

 regarded by the great Siberian traveller as only a small race of the Hooper. 

 Naumann claims to have rediscovered it early in 1823 in Germany ; Yarrell 

 a year later in the south of England ; and Hancock in January 1829 in the 

 north of England. 



Since Yarrell's discovery, Bewick's Swan has been found to be a by no 

 means uncommon winter visitor to the coasts of Scotland and England, 

 including the Outer Hebrides, the Orkneys, and Shetlands, and possibly 

 the Channel Islands. It is, however, most abundant on the west coast of 

 Ireland, where it is sometimes observed in thousands during frosty weather, 

 but is also frequently met with on almost all parts of the coast of that 

 country. Bewick's Swan often visits water far from the coast, especially 

 iii severe seasons. 



So far as is known, the breeding-grounds of Bewick's Swan are confined 

 to the tundras above the limits of forest-growth east of the White Sea, 

 in the lower valleys of the Petchora, the Obb, the Yenesay, and the 

 Lena, and on the islands in the Arctic Ocean near these limits. It is not 

 known to breed in Lapland, and has only once occurred on the Scandinavian 

 peninsula, whilst Nordenskiold's party in the ' Vega ' did not observe any 

 species of Swan amongst the flocks of migratory birds which arrived as soon 

 as the ice began to break up. It migrates down the great rivers, and passes 

 through Turkestan, South Siberia, and Mongolia on migration to winter 

 in the Caspian, and on the coasts of Japan and China as far south as the 

 mouth of the Yan-tsze-kiang. Occasionally examples wander as far as the 

 coasts of Denmark, Holland, and France, and a solitary example has been 

 obtained in Nepal. Bewick's Swan has no nearer ally than the Hooper. 



There is nothing very remarkable in the fact that Bewick's Swan should 

 be so much more abundant on the west coasts of Scotland and Ireland than 



