SWANS 



167 



Such a catastroplie occurred to the flocks in 

 northwestern Pennsylvania on March 22. 1871). 

 Swatis came down in many places in four 

 counties, in pmids, streams, fields, or villages. 

 Large numbers were killed by men and boys 

 with guns, rifles, and clubs. Twenty-five were 

 captured alive in one village, as they were worn 

 out and helpless after their battle with the storm. 

 Most of those that alighted within si.ght of human 

 habitations were slaughtereil wantonlv. ( George 

 B. Sennett, in Bull.' N iif tall Orn. Club. 1880^ 

 In some cases the Great Lakes are their refuge, 

 if they can reach those waters, and often they 

 are saved by alighting under the lee of some point 

 or island, but now and then a flock comes down 

 in the Niagara River and is carried over the 

 falls. \\'henever this happens and the wearied 

 and often injured birds are cast up against the 

 ice bridge or along the shores, people come in 

 crowds and kill with .guns or clubs the birds that 

 have passed alive through the fury of the ele- 

 ments. 



There is no safety for a .Swan in this country 

 except it be high in air or far out on open water. 

 Such refuge is found on the broad waters of the 

 South. The great flocks that once frequented the 

 coast in winter from Massachusetts to South 

 Carolina are gone, but the species still winters in 

 large numbers on the Carolina coasts. 



The son.g of the dying Swan has been regarded 

 as a pleasing myth for many years, but Elliot 

 asserts that he heard it once at Currituck Sound, 

 when a Swan, mortally wounded in the air, set 

 its wings and, sailin.g slowly down, began its 

 death-song, continuing it until it reached the 

 water " nearly half a mile away." The song was 

 unlike any other Swan note that he had ever 

 heard. It was jilaintive and musical and 

 sounded at times like the soft running of an 

 octave. Inquiry among local gunners revealed 

 the fact that some had heard similar sounds from 

 .Swans that had been fatally hurt. Need we 

 wonder that the Swan was a favorite bird of 

 mytholo.gy? Edwakd Howe Forbush. 



TRUMPETER SWAN 

 Olor buccinator i Kichardsoii) 



A. I I r. Xumb 



181 



Description. — Lanjcr than Whistling S'a'an : nostrils 

 midway between tip of bill and eyes. Adults: Plum- 

 age, pure white or with wash of rusty on head ; bill, 

 lores and feet, black; iris, brown. Young: Bill and 

 feet, not perfectly black; plumage, grayish; head and 

 upper neck, rusty. Length, 5 feet. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: On an elevated knoll near 

 water; constructed of grass, stalks, feathers, and down. 

 Eggs : 5 to 7, dull white. 



Distribution. — Interior and western North America; 



breeds from the Rocky Mountains to western shore of 

 Hudson Bay and from the Arctic Ocean to about lati- 

 tude 60° ; fromerly bred south to Indiana, Missouri. 

 Nebraska, Montana, and Idaho, and casually west to 

 [•"ort Yukon and British Columbia; winters from south- 

 ern Indiana and southern Illinois south to Te,\as, and 

 from southern British Columbia to southern Califo'"nia; 

 casual in migration in the Rocky Mountain region of 

 United States ; accidental in New York and Delaware. 

 Now of rare occurrence nearly everywhere. 



The Trumpeter Swan, the largest of North 

 American wild fowl, represents a vanishing race. 

 In most parts of North America it is a bird of 

 the ])ast. Formerly it ranged over the greater 

 portion of the continent. Today it is seen rather 

 rarely in the wilder regions of the interior. 



Great flights of Swans were observed by the 

 early settlers on the Atlantic seaboard from 

 Maine to Georgia. No one knows what propor- 

 tion of these were Trumpeters, but, as the Trum- 

 peter was recorded on the Atlantic coast as late 

 as the last half of the nineteenth century, there 

 is some reason for the belief that some of the 



early flocks were of this species. It was once the 

 prevailing Swan of California and was abundant 

 in Oregon and Washington, but it has now prac- 

 tically disappeared from the Pacific coast. It 

 always was a bird of the fresh waters and did 

 not, like the \Miistlin.g Swan, often frequent salt 

 water bays and estuaries. \\'hen the country was 

 first setted the Trumpeter bred in the northern 

 United States, and from there northward to the 

 fresh-water lakes and ponds in the vicinity of 

 Hudson Bay, where it was very numerous, and 

 even to the shores of the Arctic Ocean. 



Little is known about the breeding habits of 



