398 Letters, Extracts, and Notes. 



Members of the Seistan Arbitration Mission, 1903-05," 

 prepared by Mr. J. W. Nicol Cuming. Amongst these is 

 included the Whooper (Cygnus musicus), which is stated to 

 be a " permanent resident " in Seistan on the Hamun, and 

 to be "fairly numerous," many of the young being captured 

 there. In answer to enquiries on this subject, Col. Sir Henry 

 McMahon, the Commander of the Seistan Mission, has 

 favoured us with the following information : — 



" The specimen of the Whooper Swan (obtained on the 

 14th of January, 1905) was sent to the Indian Museum. 

 We observed a great many Swans, all, so far as I could see, 

 of this species, on the Seistan Hamun. I also saw several 

 young birds, which had been bred on the Hamun. The 

 Sayads, a curious tribe of aborigines who make their liveli- 

 hood by snaring ducks and fishes, pay their annual tribute to 

 the Persian Government in the form of a fixed quantity of 

 duck-feathers. This tribute used to include swan-feathers 

 also, but of late the number of Swans in Seistan is said to 

 have decreased. A number of young Swans are caught 

 every year and sent by the Persian and Afghan Governors 

 to Teheran, Herat, and Kandahar. 



" The Hamun, with its vast expanse of open water (I have 

 seen it in the flood-season over 100 miles long and from 5 to 

 15 miles wide), and with its wide expanse of thick and high 

 reed-beds along the margin, with sheltered pools among the 

 reeds, teems with all kinds of water-fowl during the winter, 

 and many of them remain to breed there. The rest leave 

 for the north in March and April, and return in September, 

 October, and November." 



There can be no doubt, we think, after what Sir Henry 

 McMahon tells us, that a species of Wild Swan breeds 

 habitually on the waters of Seistan. But it would seem 

 unlikely to be the Whooper, which has been hitherto known 

 to nest only in high northern latitudes, and has seldom 

 been detected so far south as Seistan, even in winter. We 

 would ask the authorities of the Indian Museum, who have 

 received the specimen above spoken of, whether they are 

 sure of its identification as Cygnus musicus, and we shall be 



