WHISTLING S w A N 



69 



WHISTLING SWAN 



Cygnus columbianus 

 (sig-nus, ko-lum-bi-a-nus) 



Colour Plate No. 1 

 SCIENTIFIC NAME 



C\g)ius, Latin, meaning a swan; columbianus, Latinized form meaning, of the 

 Columbia River. 



COLLOQUIAL NAMES 



IN GENERAL USE: Swan; whistler; wild swan. IN LOCAL USE: Cygne (swan); hoopers; 

 tohawah (Alaskan Indian name); white swan. 



DESCRIPTION 



FIG. 37.-/*i7/ of Whistling 

 Swan. 



ADULTS, BOTH SEXES. Entire plumage white, 

 head and neck often stained rusty by certain waters. 

 Four outer primaries emarginate for several inches at 

 tips. Tail, short; eye, brown; bill, black; naked area 

 between eye and base of bill (lores), usually with 

 vellow or orange spot near eye; nostril, nearer tip of 

 bill than eye, hind margin of nostril less than 2.35 

 inches from tip of bill; feet, black. 



JUVENILE. By late autumn entire plumage pale 

 ashy grey, darkest on head, lightest on breast and 

 belly; bill, reddish flesh or purplish, tip, dusky; feet, 

 livid flesh or becoming dusky. Full white plumage of 

 maturity is probably not achieved for two years or 

 longer. (Young Trumpeters have much yellow on 

 the feet which young Whistlers never have.) 



SPECIMEN IDENTIFICATION 



From the Trumpeter Swan, the Whistler 

 is told as follows: If the specimen has a 

 yellow spot in front of the eye, it is a 

 Whistling Swan. As this mark is not always 

 present, its absence does not prove the 

 specimen to be a Trumpeter. The position 

 of the nostril in relation to eye and tip of 

 bill (see above) is variable and, therefore, 

 cannot be relied upon. 



Trumpeter shows narrow salmon-red 

 streak on edge of mandibles, lacking in 

 Whistler. Size is the best guide and any 

 specimen over 55 inches long, with bended 

 wing over 23 inches, and weighing over 

 20 pounds is probably a Trumpeter. 



The construction of the breast bone 

 with the convolution of the windpipe pro- 

 vides positive identification (fig. 38). In 

 the case of the Trumpeter, the windpipe 

 makes a vertical loop over a hump in the 



Fie. 38. Above, windpipe of Trum- 

 peter Swan; below', windpipe of 

 Whistling Swan. Showing differ- 

 ence of convolution of windpipe 

 within the breast-bone 



