2102 FLAMINGOES, DUCKS, AND SCREAMERS 



of incubation being about six weeks; but the young birds are unable to fly before 

 the end of August. In diet these swans are mainly vegetarians. 



A considerably-smaller bird than the last, this species (C bewicki) 

 may be distinguished by the yellow of the bill not extending below 

 the nostrils; the total length being about fifty inches. The general 

 distribution is very similar to that of the whooper, although this swan is only an 

 accidental visitor to Norway, and does not breed in Iceland. Indeed, it is only 

 within the last twenty years that its nest and eggs were first obtained, and even 

 now very little is known of its breeding habits, since this swan is even a more 

 northerly bird than the whooper. Its note is less loud and harsh than that of the 

 latter, being indeed somewhat musical in sound. In winter this swan congregates 

 in enormous flocks, which may be numbered by hundreds, or even thousands; and 

 it is at all times exceedingly wary and difficult to approach. In both the whooper 

 and Bewick's swan the windpipe is bent upon itself, and is received into a cavity in 

 the front of the breastbone, from which it again emerges to enter the chest; but the 

 nature of the folding is different in the two species, and serves to distinguish 

 between them. 



North America possesses, two representatives of this group of swans, 

 namely, the American swan (C. columbianus} , and the trumpeter swan 

 (C buccinator], both of which have the windpipe folded. These two 

 species have black beaks; but whereas in the former the number of tail feathers is 

 usually twenty, the beak is not longer than the head, and the naked skin of the lores 

 generally shows a yellow spot; in the latter there are twenty-four tail feathers, the 

 beak is longer than the head, and there is no yellow on the lores. The trump- 

 eter somewhat exceeds the whooper in size, whereas the other species is somewhat 

 smaller. In defense of wounded companions the American swan is stated to display 

 great affection, a number having been known to collect round a disabled bird and 

 aid its escape by pushing it forward in the water and supporting its broken wing. 

 In its southerly migration it collects in flocks of twenty or thirty, flying only when 

 the wind is favorable, and then ascending to a great height in the air. The flock 

 flies in the form of an elongated wedge; the rate of their progress being estimated 

 at upward of a hundred miles an hour. 



The mute swan of the Old World ( C. olor) indicates a second group 

 of the genus, characterized by the relatively-long and wedge-shaped 

 tail, the presence of a large tubercle at the base of the beak, and the absence of a 

 fold of the windpipe entering the breastbone. In addition to these features, the 

 mute swan may be recognized by the coloration of the beak, in which the base, to- 

 gether with the lores and tubercle, is black, while the terminal portion is orange red; 

 the coloration being therefore just the reverse of that met with in the whooper. In 

 size the mute swan agrees with the latter; the tubercle of the bill attaining its great- 

 est development in old males. Best known in the British Islands as a domesticated 

 bird, there is little doubt that during the winter there are some wild visitants. The 

 range of the species includes Europe and some portions of Asia, the breeding area 

 embracing South Sweden, parts of Germany, Russia, Transylvania, Turkestan, etc., 

 while during winter these birds enter Northern Africa, Egypt, and Northwestern 



