CYGXUS OLOR. 19 



a pair were shot; but in no cases were the skins preserved, thoug-h Hnme 

 seems to have been satisfied that they were C. olor. Mr. Hill, of the 

 Rifles, also shot a swan, which was said to be C. olor, but again the skin 

 was not preserved. 



Mr. Watson writes of his birds : — " I shot three swans this morning. 

 As far as I can judge they are identical with the Indian species (that is, 

 the tame swan). There were five on a small ' dhan ' or tank, about half 

 a mile or less in length, by a quarter of a mile or less in breadth. I went 

 to shoot ducks, but seeing these large white birds, I went after them, and 

 recognised them to be the same as those I had seen on the Manchar. They 

 let a boat get pretty close and 1 shot one. The other four flew round 

 the tank a few times, and then settled on it again. I went up in the boat 

 and fired again, but without eft'ect. They flew round and then settled 

 again. The third time I shot another; the remaining three again flew 

 round and settled, and the fourth time I fired I did not kill. Exactly the 

 same thing happened the fifth time, the birds flew round and settled close 

 to me, and I shot a third. The remaining two flew a little distance and 

 settled ; but I thought it would be a pity to kill them. I considered that 

 there would be more than I could skin myself (for I have no one to do it 

 for me), so I began to shoot ducks, and then the remaining swans flew 

 by me, one on the right, and one on the left, so that I could ha^'e easily 

 knocked them over with small shots. However, T spared them, and came 

 home with three." 



Everyone will notice how remarkably tame and confiding the above 

 swans were. AVere it not for the date on which they were shot, the 12th 

 February, one would have imagined that they were Ijirds exhausted by 

 their flight on migration : as it is, there is no explanation beyond the fact 

 that the birds were young in age, and even younger in experience. In the 

 same year as that in which Mr. Watson obtained the swans — but, strange 

 to say, in the month of June — three more birds were seen, of which two 

 were shot, one by Major Waterfield, which was identified as Cugmis olor, 

 and one by Mr. D. B. Sinclair. This last^ most unfortunately, went bad 

 before it could be examined by anyone competent to decide the species, 

 and though, in all probability, the bird was C. olor, the point must remain 

 in obscurity. Even later than this, swans were seen in that year, for, on 

 the 7th July, Mr. Sinclair wrote to Mr. Hume to tell him that there w;is 

 still one more swan on the Gulabad jhil, a body of water some two miles 

 north-east of Peshawar. Since 1878, we have had no further records until 

 1900, when the appearance of numerous birds of this species is recorded 



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