358 



OLOR COLUMBIANUS (Stejn). 



THE WHISTLING SWAN. 



Specific Character. — Tail usually of twenty feathers ; bill not longer than 

 the head. Entire plumage pure white ; the head, sometimes the neck, or even the 

 entire under parts tinged with rusty. Bill, tarsi, and feet, deep black, the bare 

 loral skin usually marked by an oblong spot of orange or yellow (dull, pale red- 

 dish, yellowish or whitish in the skin) ; iris, brown. Young light plumbeous, 

 paler beneath ; the fore part and top of the head tinged with reddish brown. 

 Bill, reddish flesh colour, dusky at the tip ; feet, dull yellowish, flesh-coloured or 

 grayish. 



Total length, about 53.00-55.00 inches ; extent about 7.00 feet ; wing 21.50 > 

 culmen 3.82 ; tarsus 4.06 ; middle toe 5.40. 



Habitat. — The whole of North America, breeding far north. This is the 

 smaller of the North American swans, and is known among students of ornitho- 

 logy as the American swan. It is found throughout the whole northern portion 

 of the continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast, being more abundant in 

 the interior, where it breeds on islands in inland lakes, and as far north as the 

 shores of the Arctic Ocean. 



It occurs in the southern part of Ontario chiefly as a spring and fall migrant, 

 being seen regularly then upon most of the principal shooting grounds such as 

 the St. Clair Flats, Long Point, etc. Almost every spring one or more may be 

 seen in the marsh at the mouth of the Grand River, staying for a week or two 

 and then disappearing. The principal highway of migration is the Mississippi 

 valley. It goes north in April and returns in November. 



The swan feeds principally on vegetable food, such as the roots of some marsh 

 iplants as the Sagittaria, and on grasses and various water plants, with snails, etc. 

 This bird is not in full plumage, that is, pure white, with black legs and feet, 

 until it is five years old. It nests on the ground, eggs from three to five, of a 

 Jbrownish white colour. The swan is said to be good for the table when young. 



