ORDEE LAM-CjLLixiUb ixiiik^ I ANSERINE BIRDS 



Family ANATID^ : Swan, Geese, and Ducks. 



Subfamily Oygnin^ : Sican. 



CYGXUS BUCCINATOR, Eich. 



Trumpeter Sw.iii. 



Cygmis huccinafor, Rich., F. B. A. ii, 1831, 464 (Hudson's Bay). — Yarrell, Trans. Linn. 

 Soc. svii, 1834 (anatomy of trachea, &c.). — Wyman, Pr. Bost. Soc. (sternum). — 

 NUTT., Man. ii, 1834, 370.— Bp., List, 1838, 55.— Aud., Orn. Biog. iv, 1838, 536; 

 V, 1839, 114 ; pis. 376, 406 ; Syn. 1839, 274 ; B. Am. vi, 1843, 219, pis. 382, 383.— 

 Eyt., Mouog. Anat. 1838. 100.— Newc, P. R. R. Rep. vi, 1857 (California and 

 Oregon).— Bd., B. N. A. 1858, 758.— Maxim., J. f. O. vii, 18.59, 162.— Coop. & 

 Suck., N. H. Wash. Ter. 1860, 248.— Wheat., Ohio Agric. Rep. 1860, No. 234 

 (to Lake Erie). — Hayd., Rop. 1862, 175 (breeding about the Yellowstone). — 

 I) ALL & Bann., Tr. Chic. Acad, i, 1869, 294 (breeding on Frazer River and the 

 Yukon).— TURNB., B. E. Pa. 1869, 45 (Chesapeake Bay, casual).— Trippe, 

 Pr. Ess. Inst, vi, 1871, 119 (Minnesota, riot common). — Merr., U. S. Geol. Surv. 

 Ter. 1872, 703 (Wyoming).— Coues, Key, 1872, 281.— Snow, B. Ivans. 1873, 11 

 (migratorj'; breeds in Iowa). — RiDGW., Ann. Lye. N. Y. x, 1874, 388 (Illinois). 



OJor iuccinator, Wagl., Isis, 1832, 1234. — Bp., Comp. Rend, xliii, 1856, p. — . 



Cygmis passmorei, Hincks, Pr. Linn, viii, 1864, 1 (Toronto) ; P. Z. S. 1868, 211 (see 

 Moore, P. Z. S. 1867, 8). 



Hal). — Chiefly from the Mississippi Valley, and northward, to the Pacific. Hudson's 

 Bay. Canada. Casually on the Atlantic coast. Breeds from Iowa and Dakota north- 

 ward. In winter, south to the Gulf. Said to have occurred in England ; see Hartikg, 

 Br. Birds, 155. 



Lieutenant Warren's ExpeMtion. — 5476, Yellowstone River. 



Later Expeditions. — 62367-8, Snake River, Wyoming. 



Not obtained by Captain Raynolds' Expedition. 



The vocal apparatus of this species is peculiar, causing its remarkably raucous voice. 

 Richardsou simply states that "a fold of the windpipe enters a protuberance on the 

 dorsal or interior aspect of the sternum at its upper part, which is wanting in both 

 Cygnus ferus aud beivickii." Mr. Yarrell, as above, has made the organ the subject of a 

 more extended article. lu C. amerieanus, according to Audubon, the trachea " reaches 

 the curve of the furcula, bends a little upward, and enters a cavity formed on the ster- 

 num, along which it passes to the length of six inches, bends iipon itself horizontally, 

 returns, passes up between the crui'a of the furcula, bends backward and enters the 

 thorax." The external distinctions are the (usually) twenty-four-feathered tail of 

 hucciuator, and wholly black bill rather larger than the head, with the nostrils fairly in 

 its basal half; in C. amerieanus the tail having usually onlj- twenty feathers, and there 

 being a yellow si)ot on the bill, which is shorter than the head, with the nostrils at its 

 middle. The superior size of C. huccinafor is another mark, thougli one not always 

 reliable. Audubon mentions one nearly ten feet in alar expanse, and weighiug above 

 thirty-eight pounds. 



I have observed the Trumpeter Swan on but few occasions, in Dakota 

 only, late in September and during the first half of October, when the 

 birds were migrating southward with great numbers of Canada aud Snow 

 Geese and various Wild Ducks. Their loud and strange — almost start- 

 ling — notes were oftenest heard during the night, as the birds passed 

 overhead ; but I also saw some Swans tlying in the day time near Fort 

 Stevenson, on the Upper Missouri. According to Dr. Haydeu, the 

 birds breed in the Yellowstone region, as they also do, according to 

 other writers, in Minnesota and Iowa. We have other accounts of their 

 breeding in Alaska ; aud Dr. Richardson, who gives it as the common- 



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