CHAPTER XVIII. 



SWIMMING BIRDS. 



SWANS, in my lengthened experience, I have never 

 seen in lower latitude than the mouth of the Chesa- 

 peake Bay, and it requires very severe weather indeed 

 to force them further southward; however, they are 

 occasionally found on the coast of Georgia. Last sea- 

 son I spent the winter upon a large arm of the sea in 

 Maryland, and as the frosts were unusually protracted, 

 swans were abundant. Their ordinary habitat may 

 therefore be considered to stretch from Virginia to the 

 Arctic regions; in the latter they spend their sum- 

 mer. As they are of little use for the table, but 

 seldom commit damage to the crops, and are extremely 

 ornamental, it is a great pity to destroy them, and, 

 thanks to their extreme wariness, this is seldom ac- 

 complished. Moreover, they are so powerful on the 

 wing, and their covering of down so dense, that they 

 must be within easy range for the gunner to bring 

 them to bag. As a rule, I confidently believe that 

 half these birds that are shot, escape to die a miserable 

 death from hemorrhage or starvation. 



Although I have obtained shots at swans, they were 

 more frequently the result of chance than intention. 

 However, last winter, I determined to obtain a spe- 

 cimen for myself, and two others for friends, on which 

 the taxidermist should exercise his skill, so that I might 



