A REVIEW OF THE INDIAN SWANS. 457 



Distribution. — Over Northern Europe and Asia as far East as the 

 Lena Delta, extending in some numbers as far West as Great 

 Britain. In winter it extends South into Central Europe and 

 South Russia as far as the Caspian and in Asia as far South as 

 Persia, Northen India and Central West China. The records of its 

 appearance in South-East China and Japan probably generally refer 

 to the next bird, jaoihorvslcii. 



Cygnus jankowskii. 

 AlijJieraJtif s Siuan. 



Cygnus hetvicM janhowsMi, Alpheraky — Priodai Okhata (Nature 

 and Sport), Russia, September 10th, 1904. 



Cygnus janhowsldi, Buturlin, Ibis, 1907, p. 651. 



Descriijtion. — Buturlin (in he cit) writes : " It is altogether larger 

 than C. heivicki, while the 5^ellow of the bill is somewhat more 

 developed, but the best diagnostic character is its much broader 

 bill. Fully adult examples of C. hewicki have the maximum 

 breadth of the bill 28 — 30-5mm., exceptionally reaching to 31mm., 

 but then this specimen has the bill from the eye 122mm. long." 



The breadth of the bill is a good character generally but, as a 

 matter of fact, the type of hewicki in the British Museum has the 

 bill at its broadest part no less than 32mm. wide and another bird 

 obtained by Yarrel at the same time has it 31* 7mm. As will be 

 seen, however, from Gronvold's excellent plate the shape of the 

 bill is different to that of hewicld although the distribution of colour 

 is the same. The upper margin of the bill in janhoivsldi is almost 

 as straight as it is in Cygnus cygnus and does not show a concave 

 line as in beivicJci, the bill is also much longer in proportion to the 

 depth and the serrations in the closed bill show for three or four of 

 their number. The yellow also appears to be considerably darker 

 and more orange in tint than it is in either cygnus or heivicJci, In 

 the only specimens I have seen it is also noticeable that the black 

 runs as a narrow line round the forehead. 



Alpheraky treats this swan as a sub-species of Beivicli's Stvan, but 

 I see no reason why we should not give it full rank as a species. 

 Buturlin obtained a large series and in the Lena Delta the two 

 birds were actually breeding in the same area, yet here they acquire 

 not an intermediate form as we should expect, but are all indivi- 

 dually referable to either Alpheraky's or Bewick's Swans. Nor 

 does Buturlin say anything to show that he found individuals of 

 the two forms pairing together. 



Undoubtedly some large heiviaJci ave as hig as small janJcotvskii, 

 but even these appear to be distinctly referable in other respects to 

 one or the other form. 



Occurrences in India. — (1) A skin in the Bombay Natural 

 History Society's Museum shot by Mr, Hornsby, on the 2nd January 

 10 



