competent persons as Bewick's Swans. I have com- 

 paratively few well-authenticated reports of the occur 

 rence of the Whooper in our district. Of course the 

 smaller size of this species, when seen on wing in 

 company with other Swans, although remarkable, is not 

 by itself sufficient for positive identification, but the cry 

 or call of the Whooper is not to be mistaken for that of 

 Bewick's Swan, and the Mute Swan, though it hardly 

 deserves that name, is usually silent. I will not enter 

 into detail relating to the habits and haunts of this bird 

 by quotation from the authorities, but merely state that 

 it is said to average about one-third smaller in general 

 dimensions than the Whooper, from which bird it also 

 differs in the size and form of the yellow patch at the 

 base of the bill. 



Mr. H. Seebohm and Mr. Harvie-Brown obtained 

 the first identified eggs of Bewick's Swan in the delta 

 of the Petchora in June 1875. 



The only two of this species that I have kept alive at 

 Lilford were wounded birds, purchased at a considerable 

 interval of time in Leadenhall Market, and (as I was 

 assured) both sent up from the Essex coast. The first 

 of these soon succumbed to the injuries that it had 

 received, but the second, though severely crippled, lived 

 for several years upon one of our ponds, and, although 

 it did not molest its feathered companions, was occa- 

 sionally inclined to be "nasty" with ladies and children 

 without any provocation. I could not observe any other 

 difference of habits in this species from those of the 

 Whooper. 



