SPECIES EXTINCT OR EXTIRPATED. 473 



Atlantic seaboard, but few of them distinguished between the 

 species. 



Lawson (1709) writing of the natural history of Carolina, 

 states that there were " two sorts " of Swans. One they called 

 " trompeters, because of a sort of trompeting noise they 

 make." These were the larger, and came in great flocks in 

 the winter, keeping mostly in the fresh rivers. The others 

 they called " hoopers " (in remembrance of the English 

 Whooping Swan), and these were smaller and kept more in 

 salt water. ^ 



Turnbull (1869) includes the Trumpeter among the birds 

 of east Pennsylvania and New Jersey, " on the authority of 

 reliable sportsmen who have shot it on Chesapeake and Dela- 

 ware Bays." Thus it seems that the Trumpeter, now con- 

 sidered a bird of the interior, was taken on the Atlantic coast 

 as late as the latter half of the last century. 



In the Representation of the New Netherland (1650), a 

 paper signed by twelve prominent citizens, the statement is 

 made that the Swans of the country are "full as large" 

 as those of the Netherlands, and they are named among 

 the abundant birds of this region near the mouth of the 

 Hudson.^ 



In the seventeenth century great flocks of Swans frequented 

 the Atlantic seaboard from New England as far south as 

 Georgia, some of which were undoubtedly of this species. 

 The Trumpeter is noted by Dr. C. Hart Merriam as probably 

 formerly occurring in the vicinity of East Windsor Hill, Conn., 

 where an old hunter, who knew the bird well, reported that he 

 had seen a flock once, and had heard their notes on another 

 occasion. Belknap (1792) records it as a migrant in New 

 Hampshire. He says "it is certain that our swan is heard to 

 make a sound resembling that of a trumpet."^ "One of 

 them," he asserts, " has been known to weigh 36 lb. and to be 

 six feet in length from bill to the feet when stretched." Here 

 the size alone would seem to identify the bird.^ 



1 Lawson, John: History of Carolina, 1860, p. 240. 



2 Narratives of New Netherland, edited by J. Franklin Jameson, 1909, p. 297. 



3 Belknap, Jeremy: History of New Hampshire, 1792, Vol. Ill, p. 167. 



4 Ibid., p. 166. 



