144 CONSERVATION OF CANADIAN WILD LIFE 



it is the purpose of this chapter to describe as briefly as 

 possible the present state and distribution of the chief rep- 

 resentatives of this group. 



SWANS 



The Whistling Swan. — Formerly this species was abun- 

 dant. It occurred throughout Canada, from the Atlantic 

 to the Pacific coasts, and northward to the coasts and islands 

 of the Arctic. But its large size, conspicuous character, and 

 the market value of its skin have been responsible for its 

 serious reduction. It breeds only in the far north, and 

 winters in Louisiana, South Carolina, and Texas. During 

 its migrations in the spring and fall it still occurs in large 

 flocks in Ontario. Mr. P. A. Taverner informs me that he 

 has seen flocks on Lake St. Clair, looking like rafts of ice 

 in the distance, and composed of 200 to 500 birds. Small 

 flocks pass over the Western Provinces, and are occasion- 

 ally seen in British Columbia. 



Some idea of the former abundance and subsequent re- 

 duction in numbers of this magnificent bird may be gained 

 from the returns of the Hudson's Bay Company, as given 

 by MacFarlane. He states that between 1853 and 1877 a 

 total of 17,671 skins were sold. The number sold annually 

 ranged from 1,312 in 1854 to 122 in 1877. "From 1858 to 

 1884, inclusive, Athabaska district turned out 2,705 swan 

 skins, nearly all of them from Fort Chipewyan. Mac- 

 kenzie River district, according to a statement in my pos- 

 session, suppUed 2,500 skins from 1863 to 1883. From 

 1862 to 1877, Fort Resolution, Great Slave Lake, contrib- 

 uted 798 thereof. For 1889, Athabaska traded 33 skins as 

 against 251 skms in 1853. In 1880 and 1890, Isle-^-la- 

 Crosse, headquarters of Enghsh River district, sent out 

 two skins for each outfit." Naturally, so conspicuous a 

 bird, accustomed to alight in its migratory flights on ponds 

 and lakes, offered a tempting and comparatively easy mark 



