INDIAN DUCKS AND THtflR ALLIES. 11 



(3) Cygnus musicus. The Hooper. 



Cygnus musicus, B. of B. Museum, XXVII, p. 20 ; Hume and 

 Marshall, Game Birds, III, p. 4. 



Cygnus ferns. Hume, Str. Feath., VII, pp. 106, 107,464; VIII, 

 p. 114 ; id. Cat., No. 944 quat. 



Description : Adult, male and female. Pure white, rarely showing 

 a slight rufous-grey wash on the feathers of the head ; this probably 

 due to immaturity. 



Young. — Wholly a light brownish-grey. 



Nestling.— White down. 



Length of adult male 60", expanse 95" ; wing 25'75" ; tail 7'5" ; 

 bill along culmen including bare space on forehead 4*5" ; from tip to 

 eye 5'16" ; tarsus 4" 16" ; weight 19 lbs. (Hume). 



Total length about 5' ; wing 25'5" ; tail 8*5"; culmen 4-2"; tarsus 

 4*2" (Salvadori). 



Female length 52" ; expanse 85" ; wing 23*5" ; tail 7'5" ; bill as 

 above 4*5" ; to eye 4*84" ; tarsus 4"; weight 16*5 lbs. (Hume.) 



A young bird killed in March (in India ?) measured 44" in length 

 and weighed 8*25 lbs. (Hume). 



The young have the bill a dull flesh-colour with the tip and margins 

 black, which extends with advancing age until it leaves only an 

 orange band across the nostrils, and the bases of both mandibles very 

 pale yellowish-green, or greenish- white. In the adult bird the bill 

 has the terminal half black, the base and margins of the maxilla 

 yellow. Legs, toes and webs black ; irides deep hazel. 



It is more than probable that this swan, the Hooper or W hooper 

 as it is often called, has not really been recorded within the limits of 

 the Indian Empire at all. So far the only foundation for calling the 

 bird an Indian one is a drawing, and from this drawing different 

 ornithologists have arrived at different opinions. The specimen from 

 which the drawing was made is not now in existence, and the drawing, 

 which is by Hodgson or one of his men, does not contain the usual 

 voluminous notes which most of Hodgson's illustrations contain on 

 their backs, and which would, no doubt, have helped to elucidate the 

 matter. Hume — and it is, I suppose, impossible to get any one better 

 qualified to settle the question — considers the drawing to represent 

 Cygnus bewicki. Brooks however, as well as other men, have given 



