Swan-shooting 265 



TRUMPETER SWAN 

 {Olor bitccitiator) 



Adult male — Plumage entirely white, the head, sometimes the neck 

 and lower part, tinged with rusty ; tail usually of twenty-four 

 feathers ; bill, lores, legs, and feet, black ; iris, brown. 



Measurements — Length, 63 to 68 inches; wing, 24.25 inches ; tar- 

 sus, 4.75 inches ; culmen, 4.50 inches ; weight, twenty to thirty- 

 four pounds. 



Adult female — Similar. 



The young — Plumage, grayish; bill, black with the middle portion 

 light flesh color and a patch of light purple on each side ; the 

 edge of the lower mandible and tongue, yellowish ; feet, yellow- 

 ish brown ; webs, dusky. 



This species differs from the preceding in size, it being decid- 

 edly the larger bird. No yellow spot on the lores. The dis- 

 tance from the anterior angle of the eye to the posterior of the 

 nostril is equal to or less than the distance from the posterior 

 edge of the nostril to the edge of the bill. (Cory.) 



Eggs — Two to six in number, dirty white, the shell rough, 

 measure 4.50 by 2.70 inches. 



Habitat — Breeds at Fort Yukon, Alaska, and from islands of Frank- 

 lin Bay and the Barren Grounds, south to Hudson Bay and 

 Wyoming, and formerly south to Indiana, Minnesota, Iowa, Ne- 

 braska, and Idaho. Winters from British Columbia (?) and 

 Washington, south to Los Angeles County, California, in Nevada 

 (Sp. ?), Arizona, and on the Gulf Coast of Texas, Louisiana, and 

 northern Mexico, rarely north to Illinois, Indiana (?), and Ohio. 

 Has been recorded very rarely from Michigan, Ontario, New 

 York, and Maryland, in migration, most passing west of the 

 Mississippi ; and in Norton Sound, Alaska ; is becoming each 

 year more rare in the United States. Recorded from England. 



This bird is an early arrival in the United 

 States, appearing along the northern border by 

 the middle of September. By the end of Octo- 

 ber it is seen in some numbers along the 



