BLACK-NECKED SWAN 137 



Buenos Ayres and in Patagonia, and ranges south 

 to the Magellan Straits and the Falklands. As a rule 

 they are seen in small flocks, but sometimes as many 

 as two or three hundred congregate together. They 

 are heavy birds and rise with difficulty, and fly 

 rapidly and with great violence, like all heavy-bodied 

 short-winged species ; but in no other very large 

 bird with which I am acquainted do the wings 

 produce so loud a rushing sound. In quiet places 

 the beating of their wings can be heard distinctly 

 when the birds are no longer in sight, although, 

 owing to their large size, the eye can follow them 

 very far. Gauchos sometimes capture them by 

 suddenly charging down the wind upon them, 

 uttering loud shouts which greatly terrify the birds, 

 and when they attempt to rise with the wind they 

 only flap along the ground and are easily knocked 

 over. A gaucho of my acquaintance one day caught 

 three out of a flock of six in this way ; but a very 

 strong wind favoured him, and the birds were at 

 some distance from the water, and allowed him to 

 come near before making the sudden charge. 



According to Mr. Gibson, who has observed their 

 breeding-habits, they begin to nest in July — ^just 

 after the winter solstice. The nest is always placed 

 among thick rushes growing in deep water, and the 

 Swan invariably swims to and from her nest. It is 

 built up from the bottom of the swamp, in some 

 instances four or five feet deep, and rises a foot 

 and a half above the surface. The top of the nest 

 measures about two feet across, with a slight hollow 



