176 NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



the Whooping Swan — another diagnostic character of this per- 

 fectly distinct species. 



Bewick Swans migrate from the north in October and return 

 to their breeding grounds in March. The nesting habits, time of 

 incubation, and coloration of the cygnets are much the same 

 as in the preceding species. 



THE WHISTLING SWAN. 



Cygiiiis colniubianits (Ord.). 



This and the following species of swans are both inhabitants 

 of our own continent, and the present species is the New World 

 representative of the Bewick Swan. It is larger in all dimen- 

 sions, however, and it may be at once distinguished by the small 

 amount of yellow on the beak, this being, in extreme cases (see 

 illustration between pages 174 and 175), an oblong patch on the 

 lores, extending from the eye to the junction of the mandibles. 

 Usually it is much smaller, a mere spot of orange or yellow, 

 smaller in circumference than a cent, in front of the eve. This 

 often becomes much fainter in winter than later at the breeding 

 season. 



These swans breed in the boreal regions of North x\merica. 

 In winter they are scattered southward, more especially along 

 the coasts, as far as California on the Pacific and North Carolina 

 on the Atlantic seaboard. The birds range down the Mississippi 

 Valley to the Gulf of Mexico. 



Currituck Sound, North Carolina, is a famous winter resort for 

 these birds, feeding grounds being abundant. It is there that 

 hunters usually go for swan shooting. The dead birds for sale 

 in our Eastrn markets are almost invariably of this species. The 

 old birds are tough and hardly fit for the table, but the cygnets 

 of the first or second year are tender and delicious, the meat 

 being very dark, with but little " gamey " flavor. 



On the coast of Alaska Whistling Swans begin to arrive from 

 the south about May ist, generally small flocks beating north 

 through the late storms, stopping at spring holes, and biding their 

 time until the snow and ice begin to disappear. They then scatter 

 to their inland breeding places. A favorite nesting site is on 

 some small island in an isolated mountain lake, where from three 

 to six eggs are laid upon a pile of leaves and moss. It is very 

 difficult to find the eggs when once the bird has left them, as 

 she invariably covers them carefully with a loose layer of rub- 

 bish, differing in no way from the svirrounding vegetation. 



