94 



British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 



Heligoland, and has twice been obtained in Italy, in 1874 an adult female, by Mr. 

 Lucas, out of a small flock; also near Pavia, in January, 1891. It is a scarce 

 visitor to the Baltic. 



I have examined, as far as possible, all the reputed occurrences of Bewick's 

 Swan in the British Islands, ranging over a period of thirty-five years, and find, 

 although the Whooper is the most common of the two on the east coast, that 

 taking the whole area of these islands, this small species is equally numerous as 

 its large congener, and appearing in larger flocks. 



The nest of C. bewicki is described as a rather ponderous structure of rushes, 

 moss, peat, six feet by four and three-quarters wide, and two feet high. The- 

 cavity one foot-and-a-half in diameter. A nest examined by Mr. Trevor-Battye, was 

 entirely of moss. The eggs are three or four in number, and dull white in colour. 



In Nordenskiold's voyage of the Vega (Leslie's translation, 1881) there is a 

 delightful account of that ornithological paradise, " Gooseland," lately visited by 

 Mr. Pearson and his friends in the summer of 1895. " Gooseland is a low stretch 

 of coast, occupied by grassy flats and innumerable small lakes, which projects 

 from the mainland of Novaya Zemlya, between 72° 10' and 71° 30' N. lat. The 

 name is a translation of the Russian Gusinnaja Semlja, and arises from the large 

 number of Geese and Swans fCygnus bewicki, Yarr.) which breed in that region. 



The Geese commonly place their exceedingly inconsiderable nests on little 

 hillocks, near the small lakes, which are scattered over the whole of Gooseland ; 

 the powerful Swans, which are very difl&cult of approach by the hunter, on the 

 other hand, breed on the open plain. The Swans' nests are so large that they 

 may be seen at a great distance. The building material is moss, which is plucked 

 from the ground within a distance of two metres from the nest, which, by the 

 excavation which is produced, is surrounded by a sort of moat. The nest itself 

 forms a truncated cone, o"6 metres high and 2"4 metres in diameter at the bottom. 

 In its upper part there is a cavity o'2 metres deep and o"6 metres broad, in which 

 the four large greyish-white eggs of the birds are laid. The female hatches the 

 eggs, but the male also remains in the neighbourhood of the nest." 



Bewick's Swan was comparatively abundant in the Humber, in the winter of 

 1870-71. 



On their first arrival they are much . more easy of approach than the larger 

 species. The largest flocks I have known have numbered forty to sixty, and these 

 almost exclusively adults. Their cry is very musical, and is perhaps best repre- 

 sented by the word tong-tong-tong, with a metallic tinkle about it. 



Regarding the cry of this Swan, my son. Captain E. YLyme: Cordeaux, sent in 

 1891 the following note to "The Field" Newspaper: — "When looking for Duck 



