The Whooper Swan. ^9 



to the dwellers in high latitudes that the long dreary winter is nearing its end. 



The Whooper is plentiful in summer in Iceland, where it breeds, and formerly 

 also in southern Greenland, but only occurs there now as a rare visitor. According 

 to Dr. Von Baer, it nests in Novaya Zemlya, and Dr. Alex. Bunge saw this, 

 Bewick's Swan, and the Mute Swan, all three in the breeding season, on Sagastyr 

 Island, mouth of the Lena. At one time also in Orkney, on small islands, in Loch 

 Stennis, this was prior to 1775; constant persecution from the natives drove it 

 away. Some authorities, however, are inclined to extend the date of its final 

 extinction twenty years later— (see Harvie- Brown and Buckley, "Vertebrate Fauna 

 of Orkney Islands"). 



In the autumn it moves southward over two Continents, occurring in Japan, 

 where it is the common species at Yezo ; it visits also the Corea. Mr. F. W. 

 Styan found it a common winter migrant on the Lower Yangtse Basin. It has 

 been seen in the Punjaub at the same season (W. W. Cordeaux) ; and, according 

 to Dr. Severtzoff, occurs on passage in Turkestan, and winters in some districts 

 there. It is seen at Astrakhan as a spring and autumn migrant, wintering on 

 the southern shores of the Caspian and in the Caucasus, and has also been recog- 

 nized in Palestine In Burope it visits in considerable numbers the basins of the 

 Black Sea and Mediterranean, and the Nile delta, in small flocks, in winter. 

 Colonel Irby says, this is the only species of Swan he was able to identify in 

 Andalusia. It visits Sardinia in winter. At Heligoland it occurs regularly on 

 migration every winter, flocks, with trumpet-like notes, passing high overhead in 

 long lines to the south. Herr G. Hartert has recorded it as common in East 

 Prussia in spring and autumn ; it is a rare visitor to Transylvania. 



Swans arrive at their nesting quarters as early as the end of March. The 

 nest is a round mass of water plants and moss, fragments of turf and peat, of 

 considerable elevation and often visible at a long distance. It is placed in some 

 vast wilderness of bog or marsh, and sometimes on a small island in a lake. The 

 eggs, from three to five, and seven, are creamy white, and small for the great 

 size of the parent. They are buried in down from the bird's breast, with which 

 the nest is also lined. 



The egg shells of Cyguus olor and C. musicus examined microscopically shew 

 specific difierence. It is known that a well defined type of egg-shell structure 

 belongs to certain families of birds, but in these two the difierence is a specific 

 one ; this also is the case between the eggs of Anser cinereus and A. segetum. The 

 question, as bearing directly on classification, is one of much importance, and, 

 without further going into details, I refer the reader to Professor Newton's 

 remarks ("A Dictionary of Birds," Part I, p. 190) 



