CYGNUS OLOrv. 21 



•' On 27tli A})ril one was shot by Mr. AVragoe. platelayer, Meting. 

 The river Indus runs about twelve miles from Meting. The bird was seated 

 on a small sand-drift close to the Ijank. No. 2 shot at about 40 yards.'' 



In addition to the above, there is a letter from Major-General Egerton, 

 1900, which records his having seen "a herd of eight swans of the mute 

 variety at Kundian on the opposite side of the Indus " ; and he adds : 

 " Swans have been most unusually connnon this year in the Punjab, and 

 several specimens have been secured in the Peshawar district and near 

 Dera Ismail Khan." 



This swan is said to breed gregariously, so it is to be presumed that it 

 is not so pugnacious a bird in its feral as in its domestic state. ( *ertain 

 birds which belonged to Shakespeare's birthplace used to breed ever}- 

 year on the River Avon ; but these showed the keenest jealousy of one 

 another, and no approach of any strange swan was allowed within 

 200 yards of the nest by the owners thereof. It must be added that 

 their ire was roused equally as much by the advent of humanity as that of 

 their own kind. Boats were ahvays greeted by the most war-like demon- 

 strations and canoes not unfrequently upset, their occupants being more or 

 less damaged l)y the furious birds, which made for them in the water, 

 attempting to beat them under with their wings. These swans, like most 

 others of the species, generally chose small islands well covered with 

 bushes and rushes as sites for their nests — most often selecting a mass of 

 rushes close to the river's edge in which to place it. Now and then, but 

 not often, one might be found well inland amongst the bushes. The site 

 taken up by the birds was not always above flood-level, and whenever the 

 river rose they were forced to add largely both to the height and bulk of 

 the nest, in order that the water should not wash away the eggs. They 

 appeared to have no difficulty in working the materials under their eggs, 

 nor have I ever heard of their upsetting them when so employed. Occa- 

 sionally, however, when much frightened, or when rushing to repel an 

 enemy, they sweep an egg or two into the water. They sometimes make 

 use of an immense amount of material in constructing their nests, and one 

 such — in tlie Avon above mentioned — must haA'e contained a cou})le of 

 cartloads of weeds. What it was originally I do not know, but when 

 I first saw it. after a small flood, the diameter of the base must ha\(' been 

 ten or twelve feet, and it was close on six feet hioh. 



