72 



SWANS 



the display in Alaska, is quoted by Bent (1925) as follows: "I witnessed 

 as pleasing a performance as it has been my privilege to see. The tundra 

 was still clothed in its winter coat of white, although pools of brilliant 

 colors had formed here and there by the melting snow. It was in the 

 height of the spring migration, with hundreds of snow geese, little brown 

 cranes, and shore birds in sight continually. Then, far out on the tundra 

 I heard a different call, a clamoring, quavering call, first full and loud 

 and gradually dying down. With the aid of the glasses I made out three 

 swans, possibly two males performing for the benefit of the female. They 

 walked about with arched necks proudly lifted, taking high steps, with 

 wings outstretched, two birds occasionally bowing to each other, and as 

 they performed, they continually kept calling. After a few minutes in 

 a given place, they took to wing and drifted across the tundra a hundred 

 yards, where the ceremony was then repeated." 



The same writer describes the finding of a nest of this species as 

 follows: "Both adults were seen sitting close to the edge of a pond, and, 

 as we approached, they flew majestically away, only to circle and sail 

 back directly over our heads .... There, near the water's edge, from 



where the parent birds had 

 taken flight, were three beau- 

 tiful little downy young, 

 which had just left the nest, 

 some 25 feet away, and were 

 doubtless ready to undertake 

 their first swim. They were 

 as fluffy as balls of yarn, with 

 dark brown eyes, and bills 

 and feet of pink flesh-color. 

 They showed no fear, and 

 cuddled contentedly when we 

 held them ki our hands. The 

 nest was a conspicuous, built- 

 up mound of moss on a ridge 

 overlooking the little lagoon, 

 and was unlined with down. 

 .... The swans are probably 

 among the first birds to nest 

 in the vicinity of Wales 

 [Alaska] ; the geese eggs were 

 but half incubated at this 

 time, while the loons' eggs 

 were fresh. The swans owe 

 their present-day numbers to 

 the fact that they nest over a wide stretch of barren country, uninhabited 

 even by natives. They are continually persecuted on their breeding 

 grounds, and were it not for their habit of nesting early, when the snow 



