Trumpeter Swan 173 



rusty. They are mainly natives of the Northern Hemisphere, North America 

 laying claim to two of the finest species. 



The Trumpeter Swan (C. buccinator] takes its name from its peculiar, loud 

 and raucous voice, which is apparently made possible by the convolutions of 

 the windpipe within the breast-bone, which is hollowed out to contain it, suggest- 

 ing in this respect certain of the Cranes. It is a bird between five and five and 

 one half feet long and has an extent of wings of from eight to ten feet. It is 

 further distinguished by having the bill and lores entirely black, and by the 

 fact that the distance from the eye to the nostril is not greater than from the 



FIG. 57. Trumpeter Swan, Cygnus buccinator. 



nostril to the end of the bill. It is found chiefly in the interior of North America, 

 breeding from the Dakotas and Iowa northward, being rare or less generally 

 distributed toward the Pacific coast, and rare or occasional on the Atlantic 

 coast. Although it may occasionally nest in the southern part of the range 

 indicated above, it breeds mainly in the far North. MacFarlane mentions find- 

 ing many nests in the Barren Grounds and on islands in Franklin Bay in the 

 Arctic Ocean. They were composed of a quantity of hay, down, and feathers 

 intermixed, and the complement of eggs was from four to six. They are a uni- 

 form chalky white color, and measure about four and one half by two and 

 three fourths inches. 



Whistling Swan. The other North American species is the Whistling 

 Swan (C. columbianus), a smaller bird than the last, being only about four 



