298 SWIMMERS. 



The Hooper emits its notes only when flying, or calling on 

 its mate or companions ; the sound is something like ''whoogh, 

 ^whoogh, very loud and shrill, but by no means disagreeable 

 when heard high in the air and modulated by the winds. The 

 natives of Iceland indeed compare it, very flatteringly, to the 

 notes of a violin. Allowance must be made, however, for this 

 predilection when it is remembered that they hear this cheer- 

 ful clarion at the close of a long and gloomy winter, and when, 

 in the return of the Swan, they listen to the harbinger of ap- 

 proaching summer ; every note must be, therefore, melodious 

 which presages the speedy thaw and the return of life and 

 verdure to their gelid coast. 



It is to this species alone that the ancients could attribute 

 the power of melody, — the singular faculty of tuning its dying 

 dirge from among the reedy marshes of its final retreat. In a 

 low, plaintive, and stridulous voice, in the moment of death, it 

 murmured forth its last prophetic sigh. These doleful strains 

 were heard at the dawn of day or when the winds and waves 

 were still, and, like the syrinx of Pan, were in all probability 

 nothing more than the murmurs and sighs of the wind through 

 the marshes and forests graced and frequented by these ele- 

 gant aquatic birds. 



Nuttall confounded the American bird with the Hooper, or 

 Whooper, of Europe, also sometimes called the Whistling Swan, 

 though they are quite distinct. 



Our bird winters on the Atlantic shore of the Southern States 

 and breeds in the fur countries, but does not migrate either way 

 along the Atlantic coast, where it is rarely seen north of Chesa- 

 peake Bay. Within the last few years a few examples have been 

 seen in New England, and I examined in the flesh one that was 

 shot in New Brunswick. I think that in former years it must 

 have occurred more frequently in this vicinity, for the Indians of 

 Maine and the Provinces know the bird well, and have a distinctive 

 name for it. The Indians say the Swan is always found in the 

 wake of a flock of Geese; though a small flock that were seen on 

 the Charles River in 1891 were apparently travelling without a 

 guide. 



Mr. Mcllwraith reports that in March, 1890, a flock of twenty 

 Swans appeared on Lake Ontario, near Hamilton. 



