THE WHISTLING SWAN. 



57 1 



depths. When one gets "hot" in this ancient game of hide-the-thimble, the 

 most interested pair of birds will single themselves out from the hovering 

 throng and prepare for defense. Unless their advances are earlv discour- 

 aged, the boldness of these two will increase until they actually strike the 

 intruder on the head, to say nothing of frequent salutations with flying 

 shearn. At the same time the characteristic cry, krik, krik, — hoarser and 

 deeper than that of the Common Tern, and lacking its nasal resonance — is 

 flatted by anger into Jtra-ack, kra-ack. 



The nests are usually placed upon floating vegetation, or upon bars of 

 incipient land at the edge of the bayou — never, in my experience or in that 

 of Professor Jones, upon the tops of muskrat houses, either new or old. 

 Thev vary in construction from the almost imperceptible mud hollow, through 

 the water-soaked circlet of retaining trash, to the more pretentious high-and- 

 dry heap, shown in the illustration. The pale olive-brown eggs, heavily 

 spotted and blotched with blackish brown, harmonize so perfectly with their 

 surroundings of decaying and mud-spattered vegetation, as almost to elude 

 the sight even after being once discovered. 



No. 273. 



WHISTLING SWAN. 



A. O. U. No. 180. Olor columbianus (Ord.). 



Description. — Adult : Entire plumage pure white, the head sometimes tinged 

 with rusty; bill and lores black, the latter usually with a distinct yellow spot near 

 eve: feet" and legs black. Immature: Plumage ashy gray, the head and neck 

 tinged with brownish; bill and feet light. Length about 54.no | 1371.6) ; extent 

 seven feet: wing 21.25 (S39- 8 ) : tail *o" ( 2I 5-9) : l,iU 4-°' ' ' ""■' ,) : tarsus 3.90 

 (99.1); middle toe and claw 5.40 I [37.2). 



Recognition Marks. — Eagle size : pure white plumage ; long neck ; small 

 yellow spot on lores distinctive for this species. 



