CYGNUS OLOR. 17 



in its wild .state, it is said to he found throughout the central and south- 

 eastern parts of Europe ; but it is more rare in the north, and is practically 

 absent from the extreme north and the west. It has only twice been 

 recorded from Heligoland — once in 1881, and once many years previous 

 to that, both times in the winter. It extends throughout Prussia and 

 liussia. Writing of Eastern Prussia, Hartert says : " ('. olor breeds in 

 small numbers in some of the greater lakes." Breeding-places are recorded 

 in West Turkestan and Siberia, and also in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, 

 and I believe in Greece and parts of the valley of the Danube. In Asia 

 it is found in West Siberia and adjoining countries. In winter it extends 

 its range to Northern Africa, but does not seem to work far to the west, 

 through Egypt, Arabia, Asia Minor, and frequently into Afghanistan. 

 North-west India is, however, the extreme south-east point to which it has 

 penetrated, not being on record as yet as having been obtained in China and 

 further east. 



In India it is only a rare winter visitor, except in very severe winters, 

 when numerous specimens may sometimes be met with. As regards its 

 occurrence within our limits, with the exception of comparatively recent 

 records, I can merely cpiote what has already been written several times, 

 and pillage Hume and MarshalPs ' Game-Birds * en hlor for the purpose, 

 with many apologies to the authors. 



Hume gives it as a pretty regular, but rather rare, visitor to the 

 Peshawar and Hazara districts, and as a straggler to Kohat, Rawalpindi, 

 and the Trans-Indus portion of Scind. 



The first bird recorded in India was shot by W. Mahomed Umar 

 Khan, and placed in the Peshawar Museum, from which place it even- 

 tually came into Hume's possession. This bird may be the one now in 

 the British Museum, marked " 2. Ini. sk. Peshawar, June,'' only that 

 W. Mahomed Umar Khan got his bird in January, not June. Regarding 

 this bird, Hume got the following letter, which he printed e.vtenao in 

 ' Game-Birds ' and which is again produced here, together with other 

 letters from various sportsmen wdio have had the luck to obtain swans : — 



" In the month of January, 1857. I shot this swan in the Peshawar 

 district in the Shah Alum viwv, about a mile and a half on this side of 

 the Kabul River. Neither before nor after have I seen other swans, but 

 a few years aft(>r 1 killed it, I heard from the shikaries of Hashtnagar 

 falso in the Peshawar district) that they had recently seen five of these 

 birds in Agra (?) village lake, in this sanu- district, I)ut had failed to 

 shoot any." 







