208 DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS 



to $30 each, and the majority of them came from Texas 

 and the plains region. To my mind, this is the least attract- 

 ive of all the large swimming birds, and it certainly is 

 one of the most pugnacious and quarrelsome. In captivity 

 Trumpeter Swans always wish to do the wrong thing. Even 

 when policy demands that they at least appear friendly, they 

 are always truculently hissing at and threatening their human 

 neighbors, friends as well as enemies. This Swan's voice is 

 like a short blast on a French horn, but when a large flock 

 rises from a pond in a wilderness, and gets fairly under way, 

 the chorus given forth on such occasions I know to be thrill- 

 ingly musical. 



With birds smaller than themselves, Swans often are so 

 quarrelsome and murderous they require to be separated, 

 and yarded by themselves. 



On level ground the Swan is the most ungainly of all the 

 American members of the Order of Ducks; and even afloat 

 its bows lie much too deep in the water. 



The central line of migration and distribution of this 

 species is the western boundary of the states forming the 

 western bank of the Mississippi. It breeds from Iowa north- 

 ward to the Barren Grounds, and in the United States strag- 

 gles eastward and westward to both shores of the continent. 

 I have seen specimens taken in 1885 in the Potomac River, 

 and it has often been observed near Los Angeles, southern 

 California. 



For at least ten years we have regarded the Trumpeter 

 Swan as one of the next candidates for oblivion, through 

 gunner's extermination, and have cherished accordingly two 



