Long confused with the preceding Swan, the distinctness of the present species was recognised by Yarrell, who named it _Cygnus bewicki_, in honour of Thomas Bewick, naturalist and engraver on wood, known to most readers as the author of the _British Birds_ and _British Quadrupeds_. Bewick’s Swan is only a winter visitor to the coasts and inland waters of the British Islands, spending the summer far away in the Arctic regions of Europe and Asia. The habits of this Swan are very similar to those of the preceding species. The bird may be distinguished from the Hooper by its much smaller size, and by the yellow patch at the base of the bill being much less in extent, never extending below the nostrils. Bewick’s Swan is perhaps not quite so maritime as the Hooper, preferring the large inland sheets of water, and more or less sheltered lochs and fjords, to the open sea. It is seen in greatest numbers in Ireland and Scotland, and during severe winters visits us in greatest numbers. At these times some of the flocks are remarkably large, numbering hundreds or even thousands of individuals. Its food is not known to differ from that of the preceding species; its flight is equally rapid; and its note, short and musical, has been syllabled as _tong_. Imposing as these birds are, and by no means rare, they can scarcely be classed as very prominent features of the bird-life of the sea, so far as ordinary observation goes. Bewick’s Swan reaches its Arctic summer haunts towards the end of May. Although its eggs have been obtained on the islands in the deltas of the Petchora and the Yenesay, these were taken by unscientific observers. Mr. Trevor-Battye, so far as I know, was the first naturalist to see the nest and take the eggs of Bewick’s Swan, on the island of Kolguev. This nest—of which he gives a beautiful figure[7]—he describes as a mound, about two and a-half feet high, and four and a-half feet in diameter at the base, perfectly smooth, and tapering to the circular top, which was not more than two feet across. It was made of little bunches of green moss, with a few scraps of lichen, and a little dry grass pulled up with the moss. The cavity at the top was lined with dead grass, mixed with a little down. This nest contained three eggs. These are smaller and whiter than those of the Hooper. _Petrels_ [Illustration: THE STORMY PETREL. Chapter vi.] CHAPTER VI. PETRELS. _Petrels—Characteristics—Changes of Plumage—Fulmar Petrel—Fork-tailed Petrel—Stormy Petrel—Manx Shearwater._