THE WHOOPER SWAN. 



Cygnus musicus, Bechstein. 

 Plate 45. 



Known also as the Whistling Swan, Wild Swan, and Elk, this fine bird is said 

 to have bred in the Orkneys towards the end of the eighteenth century. Now it 

 only visits the British Islands in winter, more often seen in Scotland than elsewhere, 

 though considerable flocks sometimes frequent the shores of England in severe 

 weather. It is rare in Ireland. 



In spring the Whooper leaves us for its breeding grounds in Iceland and the 

 northern parts of Europe and Asia. Seebohm, who found this swan nesting in the 

 delta of the Petchora, says in his British Birds, " We found several nests between 

 the 19th and 30th June ; they were large structures, composed of dead sedge and 

 coarse herbage, and concealed in the dense willow-scrub that covered most of the 

 islands." The eggs vary in number from two to seven, and are creamy-white in 

 colour. 



The loud trumpet-like notes of the Whooper, from which it derives its name, 

 are usually uttered on the wing. 



The food consists chiefly of the roots of aquatic plants, which the birds obtain 

 by plunging their heads and necks beneath the water. St. John noticed that when 

 feeding they were usually surrounded by surface-feeding ducks, which secured the 

 remains discarded by the larger birds. 



This species, besides being about one-third larger than Bewick's Swan, may 

 always be distinguished from the latter by the larger patch of yellow on the base of 

 the bill, this colour extending below and beyond the nostril towards the tip and 

 backwards to the forehead, whereas in Bewick's Swan the yellow does not reach 

 the nostril, and the black extends along the whole length of the ridge of the upper 

 mandible. 



The immature bird is a dull brownish-grey colour, resembling the young of our 

 common Swan, and has the bill of a greyish-flesh tint, with the margins and 

 tip black. 



When travelling. Wild Swans usually fly in a wedge-shaped formation, with 

 their long necks outstretched to their full extent. The flying birds shown in the 

 distance on Plate 45 were drawn from a sketch made in October 1890 of a flock of 

 eight passing over the Moray Firth. The birds forming the sides of the wedge were 

 unequal in number, five following the leader on one side and two on the other. 



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