1921 .] Birds of North-East Chihli. 87 
273. Ardetta sinensis (Gm.). 
Ardelta sinensis D. & O. p. 448. 
I have not obtained any specimens of the Chinese Little 
Bittern in the vicinity of Chinwangtao, but I have a number 
of the eggs of the bird, which were brought to me from the 
Hsien Chia Ying marshes and which had been taken in June 
and July. 
274. Cygnns cygnus (L.). 
Cygnus ferns D. & O. p. 493. 
An example of the Whooper was exposed for sale in the 
market during January 1912. 
A handsome adult Swan, which I .originally took to be of 
this species but which I now think must be an adult male 
C. jankowskyi, was brought to me alive on the 19th of March, 
1917. It had been snared and was quite uninjured. This 
bird lived in our yard throughout the summer and did not 
appear to suffer from the summer heat. It was successfully 
taken to Shanghai when we left Chinwangtao in the follow¬ 
ing October and was given to Pere Courtois, the Curator of 
the Sikawei Museum, who has placed it, together with the 
other wild fowl presented to him by me that autumn, in a 
large enclosure attached to the Museum. This Swan refused 
all food until the 22nd of March, when it ate some soaked 
bread. The next day it ate boiled green beans, and until 
late in the summer, when it began to eat the bran and 
kaoliang given to the other wild fowl in the yard, it would 
touch nothing but these boiled green beans. It became 
fairly tame after a few weeks, but never came up to ask for 
its food like the wild geese did. At the end of March it 
began to call, the sound being a gentle u cook cook.’* 
Later in the summer and in the autumn it occasionally 
uttered a loud call sounding something like “ waw ” or 
“wow.” Several times during the spring this bird and its 
companion in captivity (a C. jankowskyi) were seen to 
perform a curious wild dance round the yard, running 
madly with open wings and uttering love screams. I did not 
witness these performances myself, but they took place in 
the presence of my children, who reported the facts to me. 
