10 Mr. E. Gibson on the Ornitholoyij of [ Ibis, 



be numerous, and some occasional Hocks o£ a dozen to 

 twenty. I am quite unable to deduce from my diary any 

 rules regarding the migration of the species, or the motives 

 which regulate its abundance or scarcity in the district in 

 varying- years. 



The expression '" Wild Swan "' generally evokes the image 

 of a bird utterly foreign to the haunts of men, essentially 

 fearful of human beings and their dwelling-places. iVceord- 

 ingly any variation of this rule produces rather a startling 

 effect upon the observer, if we take into consideration the 

 size and striking appearance of these magnificent birds. 

 It is for this reason that I hiul myself noting, one summer's 

 morning in 1914, the following: "Was much struck by 

 seeing from my dressing-room window on the upper floor, 

 at early dawn, a fine flock of seven Coscoroba Swans, which 

 came from the direction of the polo-ground, flying so low 

 and straight that they seemed to be coming straight for me, 

 only rising over the eucalyptus trees at the last moment and 

 swerving behind the house." Occasionally a pair of the 

 Black-nccUed Swans will pass directly over the head-station 

 (the species being much less easily diverted from its course), 

 and I was told of one case when, as luck would have it, a 

 first-class shot (Mr. M. A. Runuacles, manager of Linconia) 

 was walking up after a big day's shoot from the general 

 dwelling-house to my private one, aiul had time to throw in 

 a cartridge and bring a Swan thudding down on to the 

 garden path. 



I now come to the matter of the nesting-habits of C, Can- 

 dida, which, from my extended notes, present it under 

 three different manifestations. The first is when the nest 

 is in a deep swamp^ and similar in position and structure to 

 that of C. nlgrlcoUis, sometimes without any lining at all 

 (when the eggs are few), otherwise with enough down and 

 feathers to partially or wholly cover the clutch. Of five 

 such cases the most characteristic are the two following: 

 •* 4: Oetobc'r, 1885. Clutch of six. Nest situated in a low 

 and sparse belt of carices, on a wide and lonely caugrejal 

 below the Laguna del Passage. Built i^f dry or decayed 



