164 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



■custom when approached, for the Eskimo and 1 

 passed within a few feet on each side of her ; but, 

 in scanning the ground for nesting birds, the 

 general similarity in tint of the bird and the 

 obvious stick of driftwood beside her had com- 

 pletely misled our sweeping glances. 



" The same ruse misled us several times ; but 

 on each occasion the parent betrayed her presence 

 by a startled outcry and hasty departure soon 

 after we had passed her and our backs were 

 presented. They usually flew to a considerable 

 distance, and showed little anxiety over our visit 

 to the nests. When first laid the five to eight 

 eggs are pure white, but they soon become soiled. 

 \\'hen the complement of eggs to be laid ap- 

 proaches completion, the parent lines the depres- 

 sion in the ground with a soft, warm bed of fine 

 grass, leaves, and feathers from her own breast. 

 The males were rarely seen near the nests, but 

 usually gathered about the feeding-grounds witli 



others of their kind, where they were joined now 

 and then by their mates. 



" The young are hatched the last of June or 

 early in July, and are led about the tundras by 

 both parents until August, when the old birds 

 molt their quill-feathers and with the still un- 

 fledged young become extremely helpless. At this 

 time, myriads of other Geese are in the same 

 condition, and the Eskimos made a practice of 

 setting up long lines of strong fish-nets on the 

 tundras to form pound-traps, or enclosures with 

 wide wings leading to them, into which thousands 

 were driven and killed for food. The slaughter 

 in this way was very great, for the young were 

 killed at the same time. Fortunately, in 1909, 

 President Roosevelt made a bird-reservation 

 covering the delta of the Yukon and the tundra 

 to the southward, which includes the main breed- 

 ground of the Emperor Goose, and thus took a 

 long step toward perpetuating this fine bird." 



SWANS 



Order Anseres ; family Anatida; : subfamily Cygnincr 



HE Swans constitute a subfamily {Cygnincc) of the family Anatida:, and may 

 be considered as comprising two genera, which include about eight species. 

 The " true " Swans English ornithologists group in a single genus, Cygnus, while 

 by American scientists they are called Olor from the Latin, meaning Swan. 

 They are large, and almost exclusively aquatic birds and are characterized 

 by the length of the neck, which may be even longer than the body, the num- 

 ber of vertebrae ranging from twenty-three to twenty-five, while the Geese have 

 less than twenty. The Swans are famous for their stately appearance in the 

 water, due largely to the constantly changing but always graceful arching of 

 their necks. The plumage is generally pure white, though the head is some- 

 times marked with rusty hues. 

 Like the Geese, the distribution of the Swans is very wide, their range including much 

 of the Arctic regions, where they build their rude nests, composed chiefly of reeds, in which 

 are deposited about six eggs of a greenish hue. Their food consists mainly of the seeds 

 and roots of water plants, though they are accused of destroying great quantities of fish-spawn. 





WHISTLING SWAN 

 Olor columbianus {Ord) 



A. O. U. Xumber i8o See Color I'late 22 



Other Names. — Swan : Common Swan ; Wild Swan ; 

 American Whistling Swan. 



Length. — ^Yz feet. 



Description. — Nostrils nearer the tip of the bill than 

 the eyes. Adults : Entire plumage, pure white ; bill, 

 black with a yelloiv spot at base in front of eye; feet, 

 black ; iris, brown. Young : Plumage, ashy-gray, darker 



on neck where washed with pale rufous; bill, partly 

 flesh color ; feet, yellowish flesh color. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest : On the ground in or on the 

 borders of marshes; a large structure of .grass, moss, 

 weed stalks, and herbage of different kinds. Eggs; 

 3 to 6, dull white. 



Distribution. — North .Aimerica ; breeds from north- 



