136 Capt. Blakiston on the Birds of the 



spot on the bill. It measured in the wing 23 inches, 2| along the 

 ridge of the bill, and had 22 tail-feathers. It was very slightly 

 tinged with rust-colour. 



104. Cygnus buccinator. 



I preserved the skin of a Trumpeter Swan, and also its wind- 

 pipe, in natural form, which I shot at Fort Carlton, on the Sas- 

 katchawan, on the 30th of March {' Ibis,' vol. iv. p. 9) . It was in 

 the afternoon, and I had hardly made my way a quarter of a mile 

 from the Fort when the bugle-like note of a Swan struck on my 

 ear, and, looking up, I beheld a huge fellow coming along with 

 a steady flight against a head wind. It was but the work of a 

 few seconds to whip the cover off my gun, draw the bead on 

 him, or rather ahead of him, and pull the right trigger, when 

 a cartridge, which I had made myself, of ' BB ' shot went spin- 

 ning towards him, but, at the distance he seemed to be, I thought 

 it unlikely to do him any harm. What was my delight when, 

 after a sort of half-pause, one wing drooped, and then he fell from 

 his great height, with a crash, into an aspen-coppice. I ran in 

 and found him on his back, the only sign of life being a slight 

 movement of the head, which, before I had completed reloading, 

 had ceased. I subsequently paced the distance, and found it to 

 be fifty-two yards : one or two grains, however, had entered his 

 heart. Tying the legs of my prize together, I pushed the stock of 

 my fowling-piece between them and trudged off with him at my 

 back, his head dangling down and touching the calves of my legs ; 

 and as I entered the Fort I was greeted by the Indian yells of a 

 pack of young urchins ; for it was the " first Swan" of the season. 

 I may say that I was also fortunate enough to kill the first Goose 

 and first Duck that spring, which established me at once as a 

 bird-hunter of rank amongst the Indians and half-breeds of the 

 neighbourhood. This specimen of Cygnus buccinator was con- 

 siderably tinged with rust-colour; it measured 60i in. in length, 

 26i in. in the wing ; and in extent 8 ft. 3 in. ; bill along the 

 ridge 4|, ditto to slit of mouth 41 in. ; the second and third 

 quill-feathers were nearly equal and the longest, the first being 

 longer than the fourth. The eye was brown, bill black, legs, feet, 

 and claws dull lead-black. It was a male, and weighed 23 lbs. 



