LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN WILD FOWL 281 



CYGNUS COLUMBIANUS (Ord) 



WHISTLING SWAN 



HABITS 



I had lived to be nearly 50 j^ears old before I saw my first wild 

 swan, but it was a sight worth waiting for, to see a flock of these 

 magnificent, great, snow-white birds, glistening in the sunlight 

 against the clear blue slc}^, their long necks pointing northward to- 

 ward their polar home, their big black feet trailing behind, and their 

 broad translucent wings sloAvly beating the thin upper air, as they 

 sped onward in their long spring flight. If the insatiable desire to 

 kill, and especially to kill something big and something beautiful, had 

 not so possessed past and present generations of sportsmen, I might 

 have seen one earlier in my life and perhaps many another orni- 

 thologist, who has never seen a swan, might have enjoyed the thrill 

 of such an inspiring sight. No opportunity has been neglected to 

 kill these magnificent birds, by fair means or foul, since time imme- 

 morial; until the vast hordes which formerly migrated across our 

 continent have been sadly reduced in numbers and are now confined 

 to certain favored localities. Fortunately the breeding grounds of 

 this species are so remote that they are not likely to be invaded by 

 the demands of agriculture; and fortunately the birds are so wary 

 that they are not likely to be exterminated on migrations or in their 

 winter resorts. 



Spring. — Dr. D. G. Elliot (1898) says of the start on the spring 

 migration : 



At the advent of spring the swan begin to show signs of uneasiness, and 

 to make preparations for their long journey to the northward. They gather 

 in large flocks and pass mucli of their time preening their feathers, keeping 

 up a constant flow of loud notes, as though discussing the period of their 

 departure and the method and direction of their course. At length all 

 being in readiness, with loud screams and many who-who's, they mount 

 into the air, and in long lines wing their way toward their breeding 

 pla<?es amid the frozen north. It has been estimated that swan travel 

 at the rate of KM) miles an hour with a moderate wind in their favor to 

 help them along. The American swan is monogamous, and once mated the 

 pair are presumed to be faithful for life. The young keep with their parents 

 for the first year, and these little families are only parted during that period 

 by the death of its members. 



Being earlj migrants, swans are often overtaken by severe storms 

 with disastrous results, as the following incident, related by George 

 B. Sennett (1880), will illustrate: 



An unusual flight of swans occurred in northwestern Pennsylvania on the 22d 

 of last March (1879). On the day mentioned, as well as the previous day and 

 night, a severe storm prevailed, the rain and snow freezing as they fell. The 

 swans, on their migration north, were caught in the storm and, becoming over- 

 weighted with ice, soon grew so exhausted that they settled into the nearest 



