Family ANATID^. Genus Cygnus. 



Subfamily Cygnin.e. 



BEWICK'S SWAN. 



CYGNUS BEWICK!— Yarrell. 



Geographical Distribution. — British . Winter visitor to the 



coasts and many inland waters of the British Islands. Most 

 abundant on the wild broken coast of the west of Scotland, and the 

 lakes and western coasts of Ireland. It is, however, fairly well 

 known as a frequent winter visitor on the east coast of Scotland 

 and the coasts of England. Foreign : Northern and eastern 

 Palaearctic region ; southern Paltearctic region in winter. But 

 little is known of the breeding grounds of this species, and until 

 the visit of Messrs. Seebohm and Harvie-Brown to the valley of 

 the Petchora in the summer of 1875, the eggs were absolutely 

 unknown to science. Breeds on the tundras above the limit of 

 forest growth, on the eastern shores of the White Sea, probably on 

 the islands of Kolguev and Nova Zembla, and in the deltas of 

 the Petchora, Obb, Yenesay, and Lena ; on the Liakoff Islands 

 and the tundras of North-eastern Siberia, possibly to Behring 

 Strait. It is only an accidental visitor to Norway and Finland, 

 and the coasts of the Baltic, Denmark, Holland, and France; 

 one example is recorded from Nepal. Passes the great river 

 valleys from the Kama and the Volga eastwards, down those of 

 the Obb, the Yenesay, and the Lena, and crosses Turkestan and 

 Mongolia on migration, and winters in the basin of the Caspian, 

 and on the coasts of Japan and China as far south as Shanghai. 



Allied Forms. — None nearer than Cygnus musicus, a British 

 species, treated fully in the preceding chapter. 



Time during which Bewick's Swan may he taken. 



— August ist to March ist. 



