THE WOOPER. 
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Cygnus musicus, Bechséein. 
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Vernacular Names.—[None.] 
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Z HAVE no reason to believe that the occurrence 
' of this species within our limits has ever been satis- 
factorily ascertained, It was included in this work, 
because Mr. Brooks, and others, identified the drawing 
of a Swan obtained in Népal by Mr. Hodgson, 
(of which the specimen has been lost,) as pertaining 
to the present species. A most careful examination 
of this drawing leads me, personally, to believe, (it is of course 
a mere matter of opinion,) ‘that Hodgson’s bird was bewzickt. My 
opinion is mainly based on the fact that the black on the bill, as 
depicted in the drawing, is distributed precisely as in Mr. 
Yarrell’s most accurate figure of the head of this latter species, 
(Yar., 3rd edition, III, 198), and not at all as in his figure of the 
head of the present species (tom c7t, 195.) 
But the Hooper is by no means unlikely to occur within our 
limits, and as we have figured it on the same plate as the 
preceding species, it may be well to give a brief notice of it. 
St. John obtained a young Swan of this species near Teheran 
in winter. It abounds on the southern parts of the Caspian 
in winter, and in summer some are found in the more northern 
portions, It occurs in Western Turkestan, chiefly on passage, 
though a few breed also in certain districts ; it is found almost 
throughout Siberia to beyond the 74° North Latitude in 
summer. In South-east Mongolia it is seen chiefly as a bird 
of passage, though a few remain to breed, Prjevalsky says, 
at Lake Hanka and probably about Tsaidam. In winter 
it is apparently widely spread throughout China and Chinese 
Tibet, though its southernmost limits are as yet quite undefin- 
ed, and it also occurs in Japan. 
Throughout Europe, (from Iceland and Nova Zembla south- 
wards,) in the Islands of the Mediterranean, and in many places 
in Northern Africa, this species is met with as a summer or 
winter visitant or on passage. 
