254 GAME BIEDS OF CALIFORNIA 



Voice — Very sonorous, resembling notes of a French horn (Baird, Brewer 

 and Eidgway, 1884, I, p. 431). 



Nest — Placed near water; large, composed of hay, down and feathers 

 intermixed, or of sod, grass and rushes lined with feathers and down (Macoun 

 and Macoun, 1909, p. 135). 



Eggs — 2 to 6, elliptical in shape, measuring in inches, 4.03 to 4.50 by 2.50 

 to 2.76 (in millimeters, 102.5 to 114.3 by 63.5 to 70.0); color chalky white, and 

 with a rough surface (Davie, 1889, p. 85). 



General distribution — Interior and western North America. Breeding 

 range formerly extended from Eocky Mountains to western shore of Hudson 

 Bay and from about latitude 60° N., to the Arctic Ocean; south in northern 

 United States to Indiana and Idaho; winter range extended from southern 

 Indiana and southern Illinois south to Texas, and from southern British 

 Columbia south to southern California; now very rare anywhere within its 

 former range or else extinct (A. O. U. Check-list, 1910, pp. 89-90; Cooke, 1906, 

 pp. 86-87). 



Distribution in California — Of regular occurrence, formerly, south through 

 the interior valleys and southern coastal district. Some more or less definite 

 records are: California (Newberry, 1857, p. 100); northern California (C. H. 

 Townsend, 1887, p. 196) ; Suisun and Sacramento valleys (Heermann, 1859, p. 

 68); general interior (Baird, Brewer and Eidgway, 1884, I, p. 431); Stockton, 

 San Joaquin County (Belding, MS) ; Ventura County (Evermann, 1886, p. 91) ; 

 Los Angeles County (Grinnell, 1898, p. 13). No records of occurrence within 

 the state since 1898. 



The Trumpeter Swan is the largest of the water birds known to 

 have existed in California. It claims additional interest in that it 

 must be numbered with those birds which have been exterminated 

 within the lifetime of most of the citizens of the state. 



The breeding range of this swan was limited to the interior of the 

 British possessions, in the district between the Rocky Mountains and 

 Hudson Bay and chiefly north of the sixtieth parallel. During the 

 winter season it was distributed south from the limit of open water 

 through the w^estern United States to Texas and southern California. 

 On the Pacific coast it was formerly considered common from central 

 British Columbia to southern California though less abundant than 

 the Whistling Swan. Cooper {in Baird, Brewer and Ridgway, 1884, 

 I, p. 431) states that in California it was found in his day only dur- 

 ing the winter, and in small numbers, and that it frequented the 

 inland fresh-water lakes and ponds. C. H. Townsend (1887, p. 196) 

 records it as "rare," though possibly only on the authority of New- 

 l)erry. Heermann (1859, p. 68) states that he saAv the species in the 

 Suisun and Sacramento valleys, as well as frequently in the San 

 Francisco markets ; but since the Whistling Swan is not listed by him 

 at all, this record may be open to query. Newberry (1857, p. 100) 

 gives both swans, designating the Trumpeter as the least common, 

 ■and as rare compared with the myriads of the other waterfowl which 

 Tisited this state and Oregon in his time. Salvadori (1895, p. 35) 

 lists a Juvenal specimen from "California" as contained in the British 



