512 APPENDIX. 



that of a cormorant, which it carries erect in swimming, 

 so that at a little distance the body seems to have a head 

 stuck up at each end. The ruddy duck is said to 

 arrive in the fur countries always in the night time, and 

 to be rarely seen on the wing : indeed, its short pinions 

 do not appear to be well adapted for sustained flight. 



The mergansers are not rare in the northern parts of 

 America; but they are of comparatively little import- 

 ance, in an economical point of view. 



Trumpeter Swan. (O/gnus buccinator.) F. B. A. 2. 



p. 464. 



This swan, the first of the water-fowl that revisits 

 the fur countries in the spring, is hailed with delight by 

 the Indians as the harbinger of plenty, for the geese and 

 ducks shortly follow, and abundance reigns in the 

 encampments of the natives for a few weeks. The 

 trumpeter swan, even on its first arrival, is generally seen 

 in pairs, seldom in flocks, and it frequents eddies under 

 water-falls, and other pieces of open water, until the 

 general breaking up of the ice on the rivers and lakes. 

 Being difficult of approach, it is most frequently killed 

 at a long shot by a single ball. As the down of the 

 swan is of considerable value, the bird is skinned by 

 the hunter, but the carcase even after undergoing that 

 operation is very good to eat, being nearly equal to that 

 of a goose. The breeding places of the trumpeter swan 

 are beyond the 60th parallel, but it is not so northern a 

 bird as the following species. 



Bewick's Swan. (Cygnus Bewickii.) F. B. A. 2. p. 465. 



This is a smaller bird than the trumpeter, and is 

 common to Europe and America. It is plentiful on the 



