BIRDS OF THE HUMBER DISTRICT. 155 



seven feet nine from tip to tip of wing; weight 

 15f Ibs*. 



Out of nine sent during the months of January and 

 February in 1871 to Mr. Richardson, of Beverley, 

 for preservation, eight were adult birds. In a second 

 note from Mr. Boyes (Zool. 2643), he writes : "Since 

 my last communication many more flocks have been 

 seen and a good number of birds shot all of them, 

 I believe, with one or two exceptions, old ones. The 

 fearful storm which visited this coast on the 10th of 

 February, drove inland many flocks of Hoopers; and 

 four or five were shot on our river the following 

 day." 



During the same terrific February galef three 

 Whoopers were shot from the Humber bank in this 

 parish. They were sitting at the foot of the sea em- 

 bankment; and although the shooter fired several 

 shots, they persistently kept near the same place. 



Mr. J. H. G-urney, Jun., informed me that in this 

 year, on the 6th of February, he saw about twenty 

 Whooper Swans in Leadenhall Market, and was told 

 by one dealer that he had had one hundred, chiefly 

 from the Lincolnshire and Norfolk coasts off Lynn. 



good mature bird will weigh from 20 to 22 Ibs. ; above 

 this they are quite exceptional. Mr. St. John mentions one shot 

 by himself on Lochlee, which weighed 27 Ibs., the breadth 

 between his wings eight feet, and his length five feet. 



t This gale commenced blowing from the S. E., backing to 

 E. and N. E., and from the latter points blew a hurricane, with 

 clouds of drifting snow. 



