472 GAME BIRDS, WILD-FOWL AND SHORE BIRDS. 



trees. Buckwheat, hempseed, Indian corn and other grains, 

 cherries, mulberries, hollyberries, hackberries, wild straw- 

 berries, raspberries and huckleberries, and tender shoots of 

 vegetation, all attracted them. They sometimes went to the 

 Barren Grounds in the far north in vast numbers, to feed on 

 blueberries. They often descended upon the fall-sown wheat 

 and rye fields in such numbers that the farmers had to watch 

 their fields, or lose their crops. Oats and peas were favorite 

 foods. No doubt they also fed largely on the seeds of weeds, 

 as the Mourning Doves, Bob-whites and many other terres- 

 trial feeders do; but I find no record of this. They w^ere fond 

 of currants, cranberries, and poke berries, and no doubt of 

 many other kinds of berries, and rose hips. We know little of 

 their food habits, for no scientific investigation of their food 

 ever was made. 



Extirpated Species. 



TRUMPETER SWAN (Olor buccinator) . 



Average Length. — About 63 inches. 



Adult. — Bill longer than head; feathers of forehead ending in semi-ellip- 

 tical outline; nostrils in basal half of bill; extent of wings about 8 feet, 

 rarely near 10; plumage white, occasionally a rusty wash on head; iris 

 brown; bill, lores and feet black. 



Immature in Winter. — Gray; rusty on head and neck; bill dusky, or black 

 varied with purplish and flesh color; legs and feet yellowish brown; 

 claws blackish; webs blackish brown. 



Nest. — Of grass, leaves, down and feathers, on dry ground. 



Eggs. — Five to seven, 4 to 4.50 by 2.50 to 3; chalky white, granulated. 



Notes. — A resonant trumpeting. 



Season. — Formerly spring and fall. 



Range. — Formerly the North American continent, rare in Alaska, breed- 

 ing from the northern United States to near the Arctic Ocean, and from 

 the Rocky Mountains to Hudson Bay, and wintering mainly in the 

 southern States and south to lower California. Now found only in the 

 interior; still breeds in interior British Provinces. 



History. 

 This splendid bird, the largest of North American wild- 

 fowl, is believed to have visited Massachusetts and other sea- 

 board States in some numbers during their early history. 

 Some of the settlers wrote of Swans that were met with on the 



