The Whooper Swan. 91 



]\Iany of the Wlioopers killed in Shetland, are found to be marked on the 

 feet as domestic Swans are marked in Iceland. 



Mr. St. John ("Nat. Hist., and Sport in Moray") has seen them arrive on 

 Loch Spynie as early as September 30th ; he says : — " while they remain with us, 

 they frequent and feed in shallow pieces of water, of so small a depth, that in 

 many places they can reach the bottom with their long necks, and pluck oif the 

 water grasses on which they feed. While employed in tearing tip these plants, 

 the Swans are generally surrounded by a number of smaller water-fowl, such as 

 Wigeon and Teal, who snatch at and carry off the pieces detached by their more 

 powerful companions. The rapidity of the flight of a Swan is wonderful ; one 

 moment they are far from you, the next they have passed you like an arrow. This 

 speed, however, is only attained when at a considerable height above the ground." 



Swans are most powerful swimmers, and will swim out from the sea-shore in 

 the teeth of a considerable gale with the greatest ease. 



Wild Swans seldom occur as far south in the winter as the Humber estuary, 

 except in very severe weather. They were abundant in 1864-65, and 1870-71, in 

 the latter season almost entirely adults ; in this year very great numbers were 

 obtained in the Wash, and off Lynn, in Norfolk. Again, 1890-91 was a great 

 Swan year on the Lincolnshire coast, both for the Whooper and Bewick's Swan. 

 The Arctic winter of 1894-5, brought several small herds to the Humber district 

 in January. These suffered greatly from the unusual severity of the season, several 

 were washed up dead in miserable condition, others caught by hand, completely 

 exhausted, and one by a shepherd dog, this only weighed thirteen-and-a-half lbs. 

 Another shot, in fair condition, weighed eighteen lbs. The largest flock or herd 

 I have ever seen, on the Lincolnshire coast, numbered forty-two birds, all adults. 

 In 1879, °^ December i8th, a flock of thirty Whoopers passed the Spurn, twenty- 

 nine of which were immature birds in the brown plumage, the line was led by an 

 adult white bird. Saxby, (Zool. 64, 9093), speaking of the order of their flight, says : 

 " I never saw any other than a white, and therefore adult bird, taking the lead." 



The line taken by the trachea, or wind-pipe, in the wild Swan, is very re- 

 markable. This organ is composed of many broad, flattened rings ; after passing' 

 down the neck of the bird to the level of the keel, or breast bone, it enters 

 between the two plates of the sternum, which it traverses nearly throughout, and 

 then suddenly turns upon itself, and passes forwards and upwards to join the 

 bronchial tubes. 



The Swan has always occupied a prominent place in the folk-lore and fairy- 

 tales of many lands, and myths and legends closely connected with it, are inter- 

 woven in the religious beliefs of ancient races. Juno's chariot was drawn by 



