The Swans. 
1 37 
THE SWANS. 
Sub-family 
CYGNINJE. 
THE WHOOPER 
SWAN. 
(Cygnus musicus.) 
Brent. The nests found by Mr. H. L. Popham in the Yenesei Valley were placed 
at the foot of a cliff and were well supplied with down. The eggs were from seven 
to nine in number, and of a creamy white colour. 
The Swans resemble the Geese in having no lobe on the hind 
toe, but they are distinguished from them by having an abnor- 
mally long neck, with which they search for their food under the 
water. They are also remarkable for the disposition of the 
trachea which, in most of the species, enters the bony walls of the sternum or breast- 
bone. 
Besides the species enumerated below, there are two North American species, 
Cygnus buccinator, the ‘Trumpeter Swan,’ and Cygnus americanus, the ‘Whistling 
Swan,’ which have been included in the British List, but on somewhat slender 
evidence. 
As all the Swans, when adult, are pure white, the only 
characters by which they can be distinguished are those of the 
colour of the bill, and so the Whooper is recognised by its yellow 
bill with a black end to it. The yellow colour extends far 
forward along the side of the upper mandible, beyond the opening of the nostrils, 
which are black, this black marking only reaching half-way towards the gape. The 
female is a little smaller than the male, and the cygnets are greyish brown, and 
have the bill dull flesh colour, black near the forehead with a band of reddish- 
orange across the middle ; the base of the bill and the lores greenish white ; the 
feet flesh-colour instead of black. The nestlings are covered with white down. 
The adult Whooper has no knob at the base of the bill like some of the other 
species. The ‘ Wild Swan,’ as it is also called, breeds in the Arctic Regions, from 
Iceland, through Northern Europe and Siberia, and it is only in winter that it 
wanders south, and is then met with on our coasts and inland waters. It arrives in 
its breeding haunts about the beginning of May, as soon as the ice begins to break 
up. It is generally seen in companies, flying in a V-shaped line, and at a great 
height : it is very shy and difficult of approach. The note is trumpet-like, 
resembling also the deep bass-notes of a trombone, sufficient, says Seebohm, to ‘ set 
your ear on edge.’ The nest is a large structure, made of dead sedge and coarse 
grass. The eggs vary from two to seven in number ; they are creamy-white in 
colour, with a slight gloss, the shell being granulated, while the length of the egg is 
about four-and-a-half inches. 
This a smaller bird than the Whooper, and, like that species, 
has a yellow bill, but the black marking on it is disposed dif- 
ferently, for it extends backwards to the gape and also beyond 
the line of the nostrils on its upper margin. The culmen only 
measures 3-8 inches, instead of 4-2. The iris is hazel in the adult birds, and lemon 
yellow in the young ones. The nestlings are greyish white. 
BEWICK’S 
SWAN. 
(Cygmis bewicki.) 
