OF THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 93 



and shelter in the bay, but there being only a small patch of 

 open water near the canal they wheeled round and went off east 

 again. On another occasion a family of four visited the bay in 

 the fall ; they were not allowed to remain long undisturbed, and 

 one young bird was so disabled by a pellet of shot in the wing 

 as to prevent it leaving with the others, it could still take care 

 of itself, however, and remained till the bay froze over, when it 

 walked ashore and was captured in an exhausted condition by 

 one of the fishermen. 



65. OLOR BUCCINATOR (Rich.). 181. 

 Trumpeter Swan. 



Adult plumage entirely white ; younger the head and neck washed with a 

 rusty-brown ; still younger, gray or ashy. Bill and feet black. Length 

 4-5 feet. Tail (normally) of twenty-four feathers. No yellow spots on bill 

 which is rathei longer than the head, the nostrils fairly in its basal half. 



Hab. Chiefly the interior of North America, from the Gulf coast to the 

 Fur Countries, breeding from Iowa and Dakota northward ; west to the 

 Pacific coast, but rare or casual on the Atlantic. 



Eggs 2 to 5 ; dull white stained with brown, shell rough. 



Swans are seen nearly every spring and fall at one or other of 

 the shooting stations in Western Ontario, but the points of 

 specific distinction are so inconspicuous that unless the birds 

 are secured it is difficult to tell to which species they belong. 

 Dr. Ganrier reports having taken one at Mitchell's bay. There 

 was one in the collection sent from Toronto to Paris in 1867 

 and I have seen two which were killed at Long Point in Lake 

 Erie. 



The highway of this species from North to South is evi- 

 dently by the Mississippi Valley, where it is quite common dur- 

 ing the period of migration, those we see here being stragglers 

 off the route. 



