1ÖÖ ANATID/É.
produced' their young. At the time I saw these birds, I
also heard the voice of one of them, a very old and large
Male. His note ^resembled the sound- of. the word “ hoop,”
repeating it loudly ten or twelve times in succession. At
the Gardens of the Zoological Society a pair of Hoopers bred
on one of the islands in the summer of 1889, and again
during this last season. A curious occurrence took place in
reference to the brood of 1839. x'The cygnets, When only -a
few days old, were sunning ""themselves on the' margin of one
of the islands, close to the deep water. The parent birds
were swimming near. A carrion crow made a descent and
struck at one'of the cygnets; the old male Hooper came to
the rescue in an instant, seized the crow, with liis beak, pulled
him into the water, and in* spite of all > h is'' buffetings and
resistance, held him there till he was dead. They make a
large nest of rushes and coarse: herbage; the egg- is of a
Uniform pale brownish-white, and measurei^fOur inches one
line in -length, by two inches eight lines in breadth: incu*
bation lasts. fórty-two days; the birds feecLoü grasses, Weeds,
toots, and seeds of plants. In the eastern part of Europe'
the Hooper ranges from the lakes of Siberia ahd Tartary in
summer, to the' Caspian Sea in winter. M. Menetries sayS
that it "is Seen at Bakou in January and F ebruary.
The Hooper may;be'immediately distinguished from other
species among the Swans,-by the characters to fib-observed
about the head. Willughbjf* besides giving a figure of the
whole birdy introduced in addition lh e head only, of larger
size, I to show- the specific peculiarity. • Edwards ga.ve the
head of. our Mute Swan on the same platp with his figure of
the HoOper, to .show the distinction* This plan of engraving
•the heads only has been adopted with excellent effect by Col.
Hawker, in his very popular work, and I have profited by his
example of giving the head only, oflarge size, rather than give
repetitions of similar white bodies. -The first here introduced
HOOPER. 101
is the head of the adult Hooper. The anterior part of the
beak is depressed and • black; the posterior or basal part
quadrangular and yellow: this latter colour extending considerably
forward along each lateral margin of the upper
mandible, beyond the openings of the nostrils, which are
black ; the lore, or bare space between the base of the upper
mandible and thei-eye, is also'yellow; the bides dark; the
%ead, neck, and the whole of the -plumage of the body and
wings in adult birds, pure white ; some specimens, occasionally
only, exhibiting a rufous or ochreous tint at the tips of
the feathers on the head; the legs, toes, and their membranes
iblack, ** " ■ -• ;
The whole length from the point of the beak to the end
of the tail five feet,’ From the carpal joint of the wing to
the end of the longest primary quill-feather, twenty-five inches
!and a half ; weight twenty-four pounds,