Family ANATID^. Genus Cygnus. 



Subfamily Cygnin^. 



HOOPER SWAN. 



CYGNUS M}3'S>\Q\}%—Bechstein. 



Geographical Distribution. — British .- On the authority of 

 Low, this species is said to have bred in the Orkneys upwards of 

 a hundred years ago. It is now only a winter visitor, passing the 

 Shetlands on migration, and is found more or less commonly 

 round the Scotch coasts, including St. Kilda, the Orkneys, and 

 the Hebrides. To England it is not so common a visitor, its 

 numbers being influenced by the severity of the weather, but it 

 occurs in most suitable districts from Northumberland to Devon- 

 shire, inland as well as on and off the coasts, Slapton Lee, in 

 South Devon, being one of the many favourite resorts. The same 

 remarks apply to Ireland, although this species is never seen in 

 such enormous quantities as its smaller ally, Bewick's Swan. 

 Foreign : Northern Palsearctic region ; southern Palsearctic region 

 in winter. Accidental straggler to Greenland, visits the Faroes on 

 migration, but breeds commonly in Iceland. Breeds throughout 

 Arctic Europe and Asia, in the former not below the Arctic Circle 

 in Norway, but four degrees further south in Sweden, Finland, 

 and North Russia. In Asia it does not appear to nest commonly 

 below the Arctic Circle, and ranges above that limit eastwards to 

 Behring Strait. In Europe it wanders south during winter to the 

 basin of the Mediterranean, Black and Caspian Seas, as far as the 

 lakes of Algeria, Lower Egypt, and Palestine. The Asiatic birds 

 pass South Siberia and Mongolia on migration, and spend the cold 

 season in Japan and on the coasts of China as far south as 

 Shanghai. It is said to have wandered abnormally to Nepal. 



