THE WHISTLING SWAN. 839 
if there is room enough, to distance pursuit by swimming. Because the 
neck of the Swan is so long and hung at the water-line, the bird can explore 
the bottom freely in shallow waters in its search for roots and molluscs, 
without making any ungainly motions with the body. Indeed, there is a 
peculiar disconnectedness between the operations of the Swan proper and 
its far-reaching head,—as tho here were a white boat serenely floating at 
anchor, from the bow of which now and then a diver is sent down to grapple 
for hidden treasure. All the bird’s motions above water are graceful enough, 
except in case of anxious inquiry, when the neck is stretched to its utmost, 
perpendicularly, as it pauses in dread expectancy, and the bird looks like a 
Photo by the Author. 
LAKE CHELAN. 
AN ANCIENT HAUNT OF THE WILD SWAN. 
white eighth-note of the musical scale, set upon a staff of widening ripples. 
Ashore, its gait is a rather ungainly waddle, the foot being folded and lifted 
unco high at every step. 
The Whistling Swan is a noisy bird at best. A flock of them exhibit 
great individual variations of notes, and they can create a chorus which is 
mildly worse than that of a political jollification meeting. The bass horns, 
of tin rather than brass, are blown by the old fellows, while the varied notes 
which seem to come from clarionets, are really due to cygnets. The birds set 
up a great outcry when they have done anything, or are about to do anything, 
important, as when preparing for the flight northward, or when welcoming 
a company of their fellows to the feeding grounds. 
The Whistling Swan has undoubtedly nested in Washington in some 
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