600 THE WHISTLING SWAN. 



sometimes so abundant that Dr. Bennett recollects ' ' a drove of Black Swans being driven up 

 George Street (Sydney) like a Hock of geese." 



Trumpeter Swan {Olo7' buccinator). This beautiful bird inhabits from the Mississippi 

 River Valley northward, to the Pacific, Hudson's Bay, Canada, and casually on the Atlantic 

 coast. It breeds from Iowa and Dakota northward ; in winter, south, to the Gulf. The vocal 

 apparatus is singularly powerful. The same elongation of the windpipe is seen as that in the 

 great whooping crane. Di'. Coues says : "I have observed this Swan on but few occasions, in 

 Dakota only, late in September and duiing the first half of October, when the birds were 

 migi-ating southward, with great numbers of Canada- and snow geese, and various wild ducks. 

 Before leaving the Columbia River, early in November, the Swans had begun to arrive from 

 the North ; and frequently, when at Fort Vancouver, their trumpeting drew our attention to 

 the long, converging lines of these magnificent birds, so large and so snowy- white, as they came 

 from their northern nesting-places, and screaming their delight at the appearance of the broad 

 expanse of water, perhaps their winter home, descended into the Columbia." 



Audubon says : "The Trumj^eter Swans make their appearance on the lower portions of 

 the waters of the Ohio about the end of October. . . . No sooner did the gloom of night 

 become discernible through the gray twilight, than the loud, sounding notes of hundreds of 

 Trumpeters would burst on the ear ; and as I gazed on the ice-bound liver, fiocks after fiocks 

 would be seen coming from afar and in various directions, and alighting about the middle of 

 the stream opposite our encampment. Not a single individual did I ever observe to act as 

 sentinel, and I have since doubted whether their acute sense of hearing is not sufficient to 

 enable them to detect the approach of their enemies. If the morning proved fair, the flocks 

 would rise on their feet, trim Mieir plumage, and, as they started with wings extended, as if 

 racing in rivalry, the pattering of their feet would come on the ear like the sound of great 

 muffled drums, accompanied by the loud and clear sounds of their voices. On running fifty 

 yards or so to windward, they would all be on wing. If the weather proved thick, drizzly, or 

 cold, they would remain on the ice, walking, or staijding, or lying. 



"To form a perfect conception of the beauty and elegance of these Swans, you must 

 observe them when they ai'e not aware of your proximity, and as they glide over the waters of 

 some secluded inland pond. On sucli occasions the neck, which at other times is held stiffly 

 upright, moves in graceful curves, now bent forward, now inclined backward over the body. 

 Now, with an extended, scooping movement, the head l)ecomes imjuersed for a, moment, and 

 with a sudden efl'ort a flood of water is thrown over the back and wings, when it is seen rolling 

 off in sparkling globules, like large pearls. The bird then shakes its wings, and glides forward 

 with surprising agility and grace. When swinnuing unmolested, the Swan shows the body 

 buoyed up, but when apprehensive of danger, it sinks considerably lower. 



The Whistling Swan {Olor americanus). Inhabits the continent of North America, 

 breeding only in the far north, wintering in the United States. It seems to be unknown in 

 the Gulf States, but is not uncommon in Chesapeake Bay in November, when many are 

 obtained for the market. The flesli is not much esteemed. The species referred to as Hooper, 

 or Whistling Swan, is distinct from this. 



Audubon refers to the account of Dr. Sharpless, who says : " About the first of September, 

 these Swans leave the Polar seas. . . . When making either their semi-annual migrations, 

 or on sliorter excursions, an occasional scream issues from the leader, which is almost always 

 replied to from some posterior swan in the line, with an 'all's well' vociferation. When the 

 leader of the party becomes fatigued with his extra duty of cutting the air, he falls in 

 the rear, and his neighbor takes his place. When mounted, as they sometimes are, several 

 thousand feet above the earth, vdtli their diminished and delicate outline hardly perceptible 

 against the clear blue of heaven, tliis harsh sound, softened and modulated by distance, and 

 issuing from the immense void above, assumes a supernatural character of tone and expression 

 that excites, the first time heard, a singularly peculiar feeling. 



"In flying, these birds make a strange appearance ; their long necks protrude, and present 



