BIRDS HUNTED FOR FOOD OR SPORT 199 



in the north it is shot because it is rare, and is wanted for 

 a "specimen;" if it alights in New England, and is seen, 



it rarely gets away. 



The great Swan shooting ground now is Currituck Sound. 

 Here the birds find open water, food is plentiful and they 

 are far less harried than on Chesapeake Bay. This is the 

 secret of their increase there, and they will probably continue 

 to maintain their numbers there for years, provided the con- 

 ditions remain favorable. 



There are a good many records of the occurrence of 

 Swans in New England. Mr. Robert O. Morris of Spring- 

 field, Mass., saw one at Longmeadow "more than twenty 

 years ago." Mr. John Daland, Jr., of Salem says that one 

 was seen at Plum Island about 188.5. About 1888 Mr. George 

 Linder saw a flock of over twenty Swans flying very high 

 over Newton, Mass. A small flock was seen on the Charles 

 River in 1891. ^ A Whistling Swan was kifled at Flatlands, 

 within the limits of Greater New York, by Asher \Miite, 

 December 24, 1901. ^ Six on November 28, 1902, and another 

 on December 1 were seen by W. H. Vivian of Gloucester, 

 Mass.^ Mr. E. W. Eaton writes that he shot at a "bunch" 

 of seven Swans near the mouth of the Merrimac River in 

 November, 1902, wounding one; one of these was shot after- 

 wards by George F. Thurlow (November 28). The Rev. 

 Albert E. Hylan states that one was seen by the captain of a 

 towboat on Long Island Sound in 1906. Dr. L. C. Sanford 

 writes me that he saw a Swan flying over Watch Hill, R. I., in 

 September, 1908. Mr. Talbot Denmead of Baltimore writes 

 (1908) that about five hundred still winter near Carroll's Island 

 in Chesapeake Bay, on a club preserve where few are shot; and 

 Col. L. R. Cheney of Hartford states that he has seen as many 

 as five hundred in a single day off Virginia beach, about eight 

 miles north of the North Carolina line. Several correspondents 

 state that three fine specimens of this species were taken on 

 Nantucket, Mass., November 29, 1906. ^ Two were shot on 



1 Chamberlain, Montague: Nuttall's Manual, 1891, Vol. II, p. 29S. 



2 Braislin, William C: Auk, 1903, p. 52. 



3 Townsend, C. W.: Birds of Essex County, 1905, p. 151. 



4 Bent, A. C: Auk, 1907, p. 212. 



