TENTH ANNUAL REPORT. 177 



In July the \oini!^' swans are led to some good-sized stream or 

 body of water, where the critical period of moult is gone through, 

 every flight feather being shed simultaneously, leaving the birds 

 stump-winged and helpless for several weeks. The natives of 

 Alaska, besides using swans for food, utilize the skin of the leg 

 and foot for small pouches, and by cutting off the wings and 

 legs and skinning the bird entire a complete garment for a small 

 child is obtained, warmer than any made to order. 



If the birds escape the myriad dangers, or rather if they evade 

 their most deadly foeman — man — they gather into flocks in mid- 

 September, restless with the spirit of migration. Of a lake in 

 Alaska, to which the gathering clans of the swans invariably 

 resorted in the fall of the year. Mr. E. W. Nelson writes : " About 

 twenty miles from Saint Michael, toward the Yukon mouth, is a 

 small shallow lake, about one-fourth of a mile in diameter, which 

 is grown up with ' horse-tails ' ( Eqiiisctitiii) . This lakelet forms 

 a general rendezvous for all the swans of that vicinity during the 

 summer and fall. During the breeding season they gather there 

 to feed, and the males make it their home. In autumn, as the 

 old birds regain their wing feathers and the young are able to 

 fly. all congregate here, so that I have rarely passed this place 

 without seeing from lOO to 500 swans gathered in this small area. 

 Their combined cries can be heard for three miles or more, and 

 make a grand and melodious concert. 



" I have frequently sat and listened with the keenest pleasure 

 to the organ-like swell and fall of their notes, as they were wafted 

 on in rich, full harmony, then sank to a faint murmur, not unlike 

 that of running water. A series of low hillocks afforded a cover 

 by which the lake could be approached, and it was a majestic 

 sight to lie here on a mossy knoll and gaze on the unsuspecting 

 groups of these graceful birds as they swam back and forth, 

 within rifle-shot, not suspecting our presence. Their snowy bod- 

 ies and beautiful forms, as I last saw them in this far-away spot, 

 will linger long in my mind as one of the most unique and inter- 

 esting sights of my experience in the north. The report of a 

 rifle is sufficient to change the scene into wild confusion. A 

 chorus of confused cries and the heavy beating of hundreds of 

 mighty wings is heard. A cloud of wdiite rises, breaks into numer- 

 ous fragments, and the birds scatter over the wide flats on every 

 side." 



About October ist the birds begin to leave for the south, 

 " gangs " of ten to thirty passing over continually, all keeping up 

 a continuous high, mellow clanging. 



