256 VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF LAKELAND 



myself were standing on Leckbeck Bridge, in December of the 

 above year, when four of these Swans passed over our heads, 

 not more than twenty feet above us. Unfortunately we neither 

 of us had a gun, although we had been out shooting a short time 

 before.' 



A loose note of T. C. Heysham runs thus : ' The Hooper, or 

 Whistling Swan. — Jan. 27, 1848. — Three birds of this species 

 were in the Market this day shot on Burgh and Bockliffe marshes, 

 an old bird and two young ones. Four were seen flying over 

 the town in Deer. 1847, and during the same winter three were 

 shot in the neighbourhood of Carlisle. Jan. 29, 1848. — I was 

 informed this day that seven Wild Swans were seen on Burgh 

 marsh, six of which were shot a few days ago and forwarded to 

 London for sale.' A specimen of the Whooper preserved at 

 Edenhall is recorded in the Carlisle Patriot of January 14, 1865, 

 as having been recently shot 'byR. C. Musgrave, Esq. of Edenhall, 

 on the banks of the Eden near Udford.' Another adult Whooper, 

 which had for some days frequented the middle reach of Ulles- 

 water lake, quite alone, was shot there by one John Simpson, on 

 the 21st of January 1867 ; as recorded in the Carlisle Journal of 

 February 1, 1867. A few other specimens have been seen, if 

 not actually obtained, in subsequent years upon our lakes, in the 

 Eden valley, and the neighbourhood of the Solway Firth. 

 Though wild swans are popularly considered very rare in Lake- 

 land, the more experienced and aged gunners of the Solway have 

 at one time or another met with, and even shot, a few wild swans. 

 Bryson says that once, early in the seventies, he saw a herd of 

 thirty-six wild swans on the Solway. He has since met with a 

 few others while punt-shooting, but only in very small numbers. 



It does not appear that any Lakeland naturalist has hitherto 

 attempted to describe the habits of wild Whoopers. I shall 

 therefore endeavour to supply the deficiency, even at the risk of 

 being voted prolix. It was on the 7th of February 1891, that, 

 visiting Monkhill Lough, I found four wild swans swimming 

 on the edge of the sedge. Hearing them ' clanging,' I at once 

 conjectured that they must be Whoopers. Soon after my arrival 

 I had irrefutable evidence of their specific identity in their 

 well-defined ' hooping] the action which accompanied this call 



