2472 The Zoologist — February, 1871. 



immediately afterwards dived, going under very quietly and leaving 

 hardly a ripple ; this time I saw it emerge on the drain side about 

 the same distance, namely twenty yards : just at this time a flight 

 of plover passed, at which I fired, and I think the report must have 

 caused it to rise, as, although I spent an hour in looking up and 

 down the drain, and returned again at a later period in the day, I 

 saw it no more. 



Wild Swan (Cygnus ferus and Bewickii). — The intense frost 

 and severe weather of the latter part of the month has driven 

 several swans into the river. There is one flock of sixteen off our 

 coast, another of fourteen and one of five, also another company of 

 eleven : these last are the small species or variety {Cygnus 

 Bewickii). 



January 2nd, 1871. When on the "flats" this morning, eleven 



swans flew across the "muds," but far out of shot: ten of these 



were adult birds, the other an immature one in the blue-gray 



plumage. They alighted on the river a short distance from the 



coast, their exquisite and dazzling snow-white plumage having a 



most beautiful eflfect as they floated_^buoyantly in a cluster on the 



dark river ; a sight not soon to be forgotten, and one which I wish 



all my zoological friends could have witnessed. From their small 



size they evidently belonged to the smaller species. On the water 



they look fully one-third shorter than the hooper, but swim higher. 



They are also much tamer than the larger species, and in this case 



permitted an approach of within one hundred yards before taking 



flight. 



John Cordeaux. 



Great Cotes, Ulceby, 



January 10, 1871. 



Immigration of Great Bustards. 



[An event of such unusual occurrence as the immigration of a flock of 

 bustards could uot fail to excite great interest among the ornithologists of this 

 country, and with their invariable courtesy aud kindness my correspondents 

 have forwarded for publication in the ' Zoologist ' every particular they could 

 ascertain respecting this remarkable event. I have thought it desirable to 

 associate these communications under one general heading, but without either 

 abbreviation or alteration, indeed any attempt to make them accordant or 

 consecutive, and I am perfectly aware that some slight repetition has thus 

 been rendered unavoidable. It seems almost a matter of certainty that 



