458 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1960 



nature — the deep, clarion, French-liom tones of the mighty trumpeter 

 of the West. "Why has the trumpeter survived where other remnant 

 species often dwindle to extinction ? If we examine the history of the 

 trumpeter, perhaps we may find some answers. 



The trimipeter originally ranged throughout a vast area of western 

 North America, breeding from Alaska, Northern Mackenzie and James 

 Bay, south to British Columbia, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, and 

 northern Missouri. It wintered in open water areas south to Cali- 

 fornia and the Gulf of Mexico. At the present time there is a small 

 population of about 200 birds in Alaska, and several hundred in 

 western British Columbia and Alberta. The 700 trumpeters in the 

 States of Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming complete the population. 

 They live within a triangle less than 100 miles on each side. 



That is trumpeter country, U.S.A. It is within the historic breed- 

 ing and wintering range of the species. The small size of the occupied 

 habitat makes it very important to increase the breeding range to 

 other areas. Some catastrophe could conceivably wipe out the greater 

 portion of our remaining birds. Wlio knows what combination of 

 severe winter, disease, drought, or even fallout from a badly aimed 

 ICBM could do to put the United States out of the business of raising 

 trumpeter swans. 



Statements of former abundance of trmnpeter swans vary, and are 

 further complicated by the difficulty of distinguishing whistling swans 

 from the larger trumpeters in the field. Trmnpeters were supposed to 

 be abundant throughout their breeding range. We now know, how- 

 ever, that each breeding pair requires a large territory, large enough 

 to cause doubt of some oldtime estimates of tremendous trumpeter 

 populations. Swans were used for food, shot for the market, and 

 thousands were killed for the breast skins alone. Between 1853 and 

 1877, the Hudson's Bay Company marketed 17,671 swan skins. How 

 many of these were trumpeters is not known ; in fact, it was not until 

 1831 that the species of whistling and trumpeter swans were differ- 

 entiated. "Wliile swan breast skins were a quality item, they were also 

 used in a later age for such prosaic items as cowboys' coats and, accord- 

 ing to a user, "tanned as tough as sheepskin." 



Except to the expert, the tnunpeter and whistling swans appear 

 identical in the field. Both are large white birds and look about the 

 same on the water and in fliglit. The major difference is size — any 

 specimen over 55 inches long, weighing over 20 pounds, is prob- 

 ably a trumpeter. There are additional identification aids. Most 

 whistlers have a yellow spot in front of the eye, trumpeters vary in 

 possession of a narrow salmon-red streak or grinning patch on the 

 edge of the mandibles. In 1956 banding operations at Red Rock 

 Lakes, Mont., revealed that this grinning streak was prominent in 



