Bewick’s Swan.
Cygnus olor (3. minor, Pall Zoog. Rosso-Asiat., tom. ii. p. 914. no. 31
— islandicus, Brehra, Vog. Deutschl., p. 832, tab. 41. fig, 1.
— minor, Keys & Bias. Wirbelth. Eur., p. 82.
-— musicus minor, Schleg. Rev. Crifc. des Ois. d’Eur., p. 119.
— melanorkinus, Naum. Vog. Deutsch., 1842, tom. xi. p. 4#?. t*J
— musicus, Faber, Prodr., p. 81.
musicus (3, minor,' Bias. List of Birds of Eur., Eng. edit. p. f*
— Bewickii, Yarr. Linn. Trans., vol. xvi. p. 445.
Ornithologists are now very generally agreed that the little Swan to which t&r && M
the name of Cygnus Bemqkii, but which had been previously discriminated ttt. an
Mr. R. R. Wingate, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, had for many years before been
and had received from them various specific appellations, the earliest appearsu«r to . :M f
from. Pallas, a terra to which modern writers give the preference. I bar« m
figuring the bird under the name o f C. minor, but gladly retain for it the English m p i ii.
Swan; for surely there is no one of our departed naturalists who more highly deserve» tV
o f his name,—not that my testimony to his merits is of any importance, since his own n;;- . .
history delineations will hand down his fame to all future times. Mr. Swinhoe states
the bird exposed for sale in the Shanghai markets, in China, just as it is in those of London ati
and it was also observed by Von Middendorff and Von Schrenck in the countries visited by thoi
naturalists— the Amoor, Siberia, &c.
The occurrences o f Bewick’s Swan in Great Britain are far too numerous to be enumei
present work,' the character o f which is to generalize rather than to go into minute
mention that examples have been killed in Yorkshire, Cambridgeshire, Durham, >v
Huntingdonshire, Norfolk, Oxfordshire, Derbyshire, and Lancashire, full particulars of which v
in the ‘ Zoologist’ and other similar publications. With respect to Cornwall Mr, RodUl •<
species was so long confounded with C. feriis as a small variety, that I have ventured to nwortif *i
the distinctive characters o f the two birds are beautifully illustrated in a series o f m • > e
Yarrcll’s third volume o f his ‘ British Birds.’ ”
“ In external appearance,” remark Messrs. Jardine and Selby, “ Bewick's Swan ben»*« .
resemblance to the Common Hooper, and upon a cursory view may be easily mistaken for -
that bird, which, indeed, appears to have been the case. The detection of several MtoHSMStft
remained for many years in the collections o f individuals as common Wild Swans sltows that it i
comer, but may, with the Hooper, have visited this country for an indefinite period tfcetoffe
numbers as the latter is known to do. The character which distinguishes Bewick »
Hooper consists in the great inferiority of size, the former being about a third less tbw* ifct
the latter:—the average length o f C. Betdeki being three feet ten inches, the width vx •
the Hooper being five feet, the width eight feet and upwards.”
What has been said respecting the Whooper (Cygnus ferns) is in a general sense equally <i
the habits and manners o f its smaller congener. They both, with but few exceptions, iishat
countries, are influenced by the same migratory impulses, arising from precisely the same caws
actions and economy are very similar. They are both denizens o f the arctic portion of tbe
but, contrary to what has been asserted, the C. minor does not appear to occur in Iceland, sb
it is probably found in all the arctic portions of Europe, Eastern Russia, and Siberia, whenc
southward when the severity o f cold renders those countries untenantable. In England we red
much after the manner o f those o f the Whooper, but apparently in smaller numbers. In If
Thompson says it “ is probably a regular winter visitant, it occurs more frequently ” than with tt*.
to Macgillivray it visits Scotland annually at the same season, and appears to be more name*
easily obtained during severe or long-continued snow-storms. Mr. Stevenson concurs m 3*
opinion that the C. minor is more marine in its habits than the C. ferus, never proceedm«
its closely allied congener.
The last-named gentleman having kindly granted me permission to make extract» iWo* atr.