competent persons as Bewick’s Swans. I have comparatively
few well-authenticated reports of the occur
rence of the Whooper in our district. Of course the
smaller size of this species, when seen on wing in
company with other Swans, although remarkable, is not
by itself sufficient for positive identification, but the cry
or call of the Whooper is not to be mistaken for that of
Bewick’s Swan, and the Mute Swan, though it hardly
deserves that name, is usually silent. I will not enter
into detail relating to the habits and haunts of this bird
by quotation from the authorities, but merely state that
it is said to average about one-third smaller in general
dimensions than the Whooper, from which bird it also
differs in the size and form of the yellow patch at the
base of the bill.
Mr. H. Seebohm and Mr. Harvie-Brown obtained
the first identified eggs of Bewick’s Swan in the delta
of the Petchora in June 1875.
The only two of this species that I have kept alive at
Lilford were wounded birds, purchased at a considerable
interval of time in Leadenhall Market, and (as I was
assured) both sent up from the Essex coast. The first
of these soon succumbed to the injuries that it had
received, but the second, though severely crippled, lived
for several years upon one of our ponds, and, although
it did not molest its feathered companions, was occasionally
inclined to be “ nasty” with ladies and children
without any provocation. I could not observe any other
difference of habits in this species from those of the
Whooper.