164 anatidjE. 



near Wycliffe, Yorkshire, about the same date ; at Berwick- 

 on-Twe"ed, Northumberland, 1818 ; Essex, Jan. 1871 ; 

 Gloucestershire, Nov. 1909. Two are also said to have 

 been taken in south Devon and one in Norfolk. Others 

 have been reported on more or less doubtful evidence. 



General Distribution. — The Red-breasted Goose breeds in 

 tlie tundras of western Siberia from the Obi to the Yenesei, 

 but does not occur much to the east of the Taimyr Peninsula. 

 In winter great numbers visit the Caspian and Aral seas, also 

 parts of -Persia, passing through south Russia, the Kirghiz 

 Steppes, and Turkestan. It wanders occasionally to central 

 and southern Europe as far west as France and as far south 

 as Italy. 



Genus CYGNUS Beclistein, Orn. Taschenb. pt. ii. 1803, 

 p. 404 (note). 



Type : C. cygnus (Linn.). 



Ci/(7mMS=tlie Swan, in olaseical Latin, in Greek kvkvos. Cf. Ciconia, 



Cygnus cygnus. Whoopee Swan. 



Anas cygnus Linnams, Syst. Nat. 1758, p. 122 : Sweden. 



Cygnus musicus Bechst.; B. 0. U. List, 1st ed. 1883, p. 120; 

 Salvadori, Cat. Birds B. M. xxvii. 1895, p. 26 ; Saunders, 

 Manual, 2nd ed. 1899, p. 413. 



Distribution in the British Islands. — A Winter Visitor from 

 October to April, individuals occasionally remaining until 

 May. It is more abundant in severe weather. It regularly 

 frequents the estuaries and lochs of Scotland and the adjacent 

 islands, and is often common on the shores of England and 

 Wales in hard winters. To Ireland it is an Irregular Visitor. 

 Formerly it nested in the Orkneys. A pair of pinioned wild 

 birds have for several years bred in Shetland, and the young 

 have remiiined there. 



General Distribution. — The Whooper breeds in Iceland, 

 northern Europe, and northern Asia, and winters in central 

 and southern Europe, central Asia, China, and Japan. In 

 severe winters it occasionally visits north Africa. 



