182 HOOPER. 



the wing or head they are not difficult to bring down. If only wounded, they fight 

 hard for their liberty, and will sometimes turn and attack the pursuer. The following 

 humorous account of the capture of a winged Swan is given by Mr. C. St. John : — 



"Just as it got dark a rushing noise was heard, and a pair of Swans skimmed rapidly 

 over the old keeper's head, and pitched in the water, making a monstrous wave. They 

 did not see us, and immediately began to feed. It was getting dark, and the old man, 

 not wishing to lose a chance, got up from his hiding-place, and ran quickly to the 

 water's edge, firing both barrels at the largest bird as it flew away. His gun was only 

 loaded with No. 3, and the distance, as we afterwards found, was above forty yards. 

 Both the Swans flew on for some distance, until we suddenly saw the wing of one give 

 Way, and down came the bird into the pool, which was of considerable size, although 

 shallow. I had left my retriever at home to rest, and before I could stop him, in went 

 the old man, and then began a chase, which I have seldom seen equalled. Although the 

 water was shallow, the bottom was uneven; and every minute down went Donald head 

 foremost. I called to him to let me shoot the bird, and leave it to drift to the shore; 

 but all in vain. On he went, tumbling over and over, and the Swan swimming and 

 struggling in the water close to him, making an immense splashing and noise. They 

 got quite away from me; and I had nothing left but to sit down and watch the chase 

 as well as I could through the approaching darkness. At last he hemmed the bird into 

 a rushy corner of the loch, and caught her. But this was no sooner done, than the Swan, 

 by her flapping and struggling, tripped him up, and got away again, leaving her antag- 

 onist flat in the water. Then, and not till then, he began to load his gun, which he 

 had, to my great wonderment, contrived to carry all the time high over his head; but, 

 of course, notwithstanding all his care, it had got quite wet, and would not go off; and 

 the conflict ended at last by a lucky blow from the barrels, which stunned the Swan. 

 I was amused at the boyish eagerness of so old a stager; particularly as we never lost 

 a shot at Duck, or anything else, without his laying it to my fault. I u hacl lifted my 

 head too high" or done something else, showing my want of tact. The poor fellow was 

 in a sad plight, being ducked to the skin all over with half-frozen water. However I 

 made him walk quickly home, and he got no damage from his exploit. The Swan weighed 

 eighteen pounds, and measured above seven feet from tip to tip. We found that many 

 shots had struck the wing feathers without breaking them." 



An interesting incident in their domestic history is mentioned by Mr. Yarrell, and 

 thus recorded by him: — "At the Gardens of the Zoological Society a pair of Hoopers 

 bred on one of the islands in the summer of 1839, and again during this last season. 

 A curious circumstance took place in reference to the brood of 1839. — The cygnets, when 

 only a few days old, were sunning themselves on the margin of one of the islands, close 

 to the deep water. The parent birds were swimming near. A Carrion Crow made a 



