840 THE TRUMPETER SWAN. 
numbers and possibly does so yet. It has been reported to me as breeding on 
the shores of the Omacne Lake in Ferry County, and in May, 1906, we found 
a nest on a tule tussock of Moses Lake, which we thought might have been 
occupied earlier in the season. The nest is always made near water, and con- 
sists of a large accumulation of grass, leaves, tule stems, and trash, with a 
plentiful lining of down from the bird’s breast. From two to seven large 
yellowish white eggs are laid early in Mareh(?), and the female is obliged 
to cover them for a matter of forty days. Both parents are exceedingly 
zealous in defense of their young, and a sitting Swan will sooner fly at an 
intruder in a passion, than away from him in fear. A stroke of a Swan's 
wing has been known to break a poacher’s leg. 
How any one nowadays can be so bereft of reason as to wish to destroy 
forever this vanishing vision of beauty, it is impossible to conceive. Its flesh 
is edible, but so, unquestionably, is human flesh, the eating of which our an- 
cestors discontinued some time since. Yet within the year a local sportsmen’s 
review had to report the killing of five Swans by a single individual in one wild 
lustful hour. Did you ever see a wild Swan? No; ten to one you never did! 
Ask this slayer of virgins, this valiant pot-hunter, this cave-dweller, this char- 
coal sketch of a man, why you have not and shall not. 
No. 340. 
TRUMPETER SWAN. 
A. O. U. No. 181, Olor buccinator (Rich.). 
Description.—Similar to preceding species, but larger; bill and lores entirely 
black. Length 60.00-66.00 (1524-1676.4); extent about 8 feet; wing 24.00 
(609.6) ; tail 9.00 (228.6) ; bill 4.50 (114.3); tarsus 4.40 (111.8); middle toe and 
claw 6.00 (152.4). 
Recognition Marks.—<As in preceding species. Distinguished from it by 
absence of yellow on lore, and by nostril in basal half of bill. 
Nesting.—Like that of preceding species, but eggs a little larger. Av. size, 
4.46 X 2.92 (113.3 x 74.2). Not known to breed in Washington. 
General Range.—Chiefly the interior of North America from the Gulf Coast 
to the Fur Countries, breeding from Iowa and the Dakotas northward; west to 
the Pacific Coast; rare or casual on the Atlantic. 
Range in Washington.—Rare migrant. ‘There are no recent specimens. 
Authorities —[Lewis and Clark, Hist. Ex. (1814) Ed. Biddle: Coues 
Vol. Il. p. 192.] Cygnus buccinator, Rich., Newberry, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv. 
VI. pt. IV. 1858, p. 100. T. C&S, Rh. D'(?). B. 
Specimens.—(U. of W.) 
