16 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XL 



Hume in u Game Birds " has these remarks on Bewick's swan. 

 "This species is in a wild state very shy and difficult of approach, more 

 so, if possible, than the hooper ; but in captivity it is said to be very 

 gentle, never molesting other water-fowl, as the mute swan often does. 

 The call is said by some to be a low deep-toned whistle once repeated, 

 but Naumann represents it by the syllable { kuk,' uttered many times. 

 In England they have not unfrequently been mistaken for geese, 

 and when swimming their carriage is intermediate between that of 

 the mute swan and the goose, wanting alike the ' grace and majesty ' 

 of the former. On the land, however, where by choice they spend 

 much of their time, they show to greater advantage, and winged birds 

 will run well and fast. It seems on the whole to be more of a marsh 

 and narrow-water species and less of an open-water bird than the 

 hooper. Their food, like that of the other swans, seems to consist of 

 seeds, stems and corms of rushes, and various kinds of aquatic herbs, 

 together with, perhaps^ worms and larvae of insects." 



There is little on record of the breeding habits of Bewick's swan. 

 Seebohm says that it " breeds in the high north both of the Eastern 

 and Western Palsearctic region." Mr. Trevor Battye found its nest in 

 Rolquen Island, and reports it as having been made entirely of moss, 

 presumably the handiest material it could obtain. Messrs. Seebohm 

 and Harvey obtained their nests in Petchora. They are said to 

 breed there in May and June and to lay from five to seven eggs 

 which differ from those of the hooper only in their smaller size. 

 They are, of course, white, or almost so, and glossless. 



(5) Cygnus olor. The Mute Swan. 



Cygnus olor.— Cat. B. of B. Museum, XXVII, p. 35 ; Scully, Str. 

 Feath., IV, p. 197 ; Blanford, ibid, VII, p. 99 ; Hume, ibid, pp. 101— 

 106 ; Hume and Marsh., Game Birds, III, p. 41. 



Cygnus unwini. — Blanford, Str. Feath., VII, p. 100 ; Hume, ibid, 

 p. 104. 



Cygnus sp.— Hume, Str. Feath., VII, p. 33 ; VII, p. 104. 



Description : Adult Male. — The whole plumage white, with the excep- 

 tion of the lores which are black. Bill, the tubercle, base of maxilla, 

 nostrils, margins and nail black, remainder of maxilla reddish-horny, 

 mandible wholly black. Legs and feet dull black, irides rich brown. 



