MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 
No. 1.—_NOTE ON A WHOOPER SWAN (CYGNUS MUSICUS) 
SHOT ON THE RIVER BEAS, PUNJAB, 
The Society’s Museum has been enriched by a gift from General W. Osborn, 
I, S. C., which is almost unique, namely, the well-preserved head and feet of 
a Whooper Swan shot by himself on the river Beas in the Hoshiarpur district 
of the Punjab, The Common Swan (Cygnus olor) is not uncommonly seen 
in the Punjab, but until now there was only one instance on record of any 
other species occurring within the limits of British India, This was a bird 
obtained by Hodgson in the Nepal valley in the year 1829, Hodgson pre- 
served the skull and a. foot of this bird, which are now in the British 
Museum, and also executed a drawing, from which Mr, A.O. Hume identified 
it as Bewick’s Swan (C. bewicki), under which name an account of it and 
a coloured plate appeared in Vol, XI of our Journal, This, however, called 
forth a letter from Mr, W. T. Blanford, printed at page 306 of the same 
volume, in which he said that a careful examination of the skull and foot 
in the British Museum had convinced him that Major Hodgson’s bird was 
not Bewick’s, but the Whooper (or Hooper) Swan (C. musicus), The relics 
presented to us by General Osborn therefore represent the second specimen 
of this fine bird which has been obtained within the limits of British India. 
General Osborn contributed to The Asian the following account of the way 
in which he obtained it :-— 
“‘ ‘While duck shooting with a friend on the river Beas, on the 6th of Janu- 
ary last, at a point just opposite Tulwara in the Hoshiarpur district, we saw 
four wild swans on the opposite side of the river, As there was no means 
of crossing, and the swans were too far and too wary to be reached even by 
my 4-bore duck gun, we sent back to camp for our °303 rifles, and with 
these weapons we managed to secure one of the four. When we secured the 
bird we found it to be undoubtedly a Whooper (Cygnus musicus), and its 
weight and measurements were as follows :—Weight 20 lbs. ; length from tip 
of bill to end of tail 4 feet 82 inches; spread of wings 7 feet 5 inches,” 
To these measurements may be added here that the length of the bill from 
gape is exactly 4 inches, and of the tarsus 43 inches, In a letter to our Ornitho- 
logical Secretary, General Osborn has given some further particulars which are 
interesting in connection with the well-known legend that the swan, so silent 
all its life, sings like a siren in the hourof death, “ The bird,’ he says, “was 
only winged and swam about on the river for a considerable time before 
I could get a man to secure it, and as long as its three companions remained 
in sight, it continued to utter its long, loud, musical, trumpet-like call,” 
That this was not the Mute Swan doesnot make much difference in the 
poetry of the situation, for the ancients probably confounded the two. 
BH. H, AITKEN. 
Bompay, April 1900. 
