250 
Allen’s naturalism’s library. 
and sometimes almost set your ear on edge ; but they are very 
short, three or four trumpet-blasts, keeping time with the 
upward and downward strokes of the wing. It is not known 
that the food of the Whooper differs from that of its more 
southern ally : it consists chiefly of aquatic plants, water- 
insects, and molluscs.” 
The Rev. H. A. Maepherson, in his “Vertebrate Fauna of 
Lake-land,” has given the following interesting note on the 
Wild Swan as observed by him in England : — 
“It was on the 7th of February, 1891, that visiting Monk- 
hill I.ough, 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 
being already familiar to me, as studied in a pinioned bird at 
the Zoological Gardens. They were feeding in company, and 
all four necks were sometimes straightened or bent forward at 
the same instant. For a few moments they would observe 
silence, then they ‘hooped,’ and, vociferating their peculiar 
clang, they all fell to feeding again. So closely did they herd 
together that two birds might often be mistaken for one. 
I’hey appeared to be well contented with their new quarters, 
paying no attention to the barking of a dog. Once, indeed, 
one of the V’hoopers seemed to be rather startled by the action 
of a Coot, which suddenly bobbed up beside it : the Swan 
flapped its wings uneasily, but did not attempt to fly. These 
Whoopers swam rapidly through the water, the head and neck 
slightly thrown back, and the black butt of the tarsus standing 
out in bold relief against the white body-colour. Their necks 
were supple and arched sinuously, held erect when the birds 
were at ‘ attention,’ arched when they fed, but twisted in 
various forms to rearrange the plumage. Watching the four 
birds, you could see at the same moment one fellow resting 
with neck erect, its next neighbour arching its neck, a third 
shooting its neck forward in the shape of the letter S. On 
the whole there existed a wonderful spontaneity of action be- 
tween these birds. 
“ On the 9th of February the four Whoopers were browsing 
in the sedge-beds in the centre of the lough. A solitary Mute 
