72 Birds of Colorado 



Key of the Species. 



A. A yellow spot on. the bill in front of the eye. 



0. columbianus, p. 72. 



B. No yellow on the bill. 0. buccinator, p. 72. 



Whistling Swan. Olor columbianus. 



A.O.U. Checklist no 180— Colorado Records— Ridgway 73, p. 188 ; 

 79, p. 233 ; H. G. Smith 95, p. 48 ; Cooke 97, pp. 59, 196 ; 09, p. 84 ; 

 Henderson 03, p. 107 ; 09, p. 226. 



Description. — Adult — Plumage white throughout ; tail normally 

 of twenty feathers ; iris brown, bill black with usually a yellow spot 

 at its base in front of the eye, nostrils at about the middle of the bill, 

 feet black. Length about 54 ; M'ing 22 ; tail 8 ; cuknen 4 ; tarsus 4-35. 



The female is slightly smaller and the young birds are grey. 



Distribution. — Breeding chiefly north of the Arctic circle from 

 Hudson Bay to Alaska ; wintering on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts 

 of the United States, and occasionally in the interior and on the Gulf. 



The Whistling Swan is perhaps rather more often met with than 

 the Trumpeter, but both can only be classed as occasional stragglers 

 on migration in Colorado. There was a pair in the Maxwell collection, 

 and H. G. Smith gave a list of half a dozen instances of their occurrence, 

 mentioning Berthoud, Rush Creek and Julesberg as locaUties. Cooke 

 states that one was obtained near Fort Collins, March 16th, 1895, 

 and that Carter prociured one in Middle Park. Finally, according 

 to Henderson, there is an example in the Museum of the University 

 of Colorado at Boulder, and three more were brought in for identi- 

 fication by local hunters in the spring of 1907. 



Trumpeter Swan. Olor buccinator. 



A.O.U. Checklist no 181 — Colorado Records — Morrison 89, p. 166 ; 

 H. G. Smith 95, p. 48 ; Cooke 97, p. 59 ; 06, p. 86. 



Description. — Adult — Plumage white throughout ; tail normally 

 of twenty-four feathers ; iris brown, bill entirely black, the nostrils 

 situated in its basal half ; feet black. Length about 60 ; wing 24 ; 

 tail 9 ; culmen 4-5 ; tarsus 5-0. 



Young birds are smaller and have the phunage grey, with the head 

 and upper-neck inclining to rusty brown. 



Distribution. — Breeding now north of 60° N. lat., between the 

 Rocky Mountains and Hudson Bay, formerly as far south as Iowa 

 and Idaho. In winter south to Texas and southern California. 



The Trumpeter is now only very occasionally met with in Colorado ; 

 it was probably more abundant formerly, though there is no evidence 

 of its breeding in the State. 



