108 BIRDS OF ILLINOIS. 



The common American or Whi«tlinf^ Swan is a more northern 

 species, as to its breeding range, than the Trumpeter, but at 

 the same time it is a more abuodant or at least more widely 

 distributed species, and therefore better known. It does not, 

 apparently, breed within the limits of the United States, but 

 betakes itself during summer to the desolate lands near and 

 beyond the Arctic circle, where it rears its young in compara- 

 tive security. It is said to occasionally winter in southern 

 Illinois, but ordinarily its principal winter residence is the Gulf 

 and south Atlantic coasts, including their various bays and 

 estuaries. 



The best account of the habits of this species is that furnished 

 by Dr. Sharpless, of Philadelphia, to Mr. Audubon, supple- 

 mented by articles, presumably of the same writer, in "Doughty's 

 Cabinet." Dr. Sharpless states that in its migrations south- 

 ward it collects in flocks of twenty or thirty, and moves only 

 when the wind is not opposed to the direction of its flight. It 

 mounts high in the air, forms an elongated wedge, and utters 

 loud screams as it departs, these cries being occasionally re- 

 peated as the bird moves on its way. When flying, the wings 

 seem almost without movement, and their sweep is very unhke 

 the semicircular movements of geese. He estimates that this 

 bird travels at the rate of at least a hundred miles an honr 

 when at a high elevation and with a moderate wind in its favor. 

 Its flight is estimated to be twic3 as rapid as that of the Wild 

 Goose. In traveling from its summer abode to its winter resi- 

 dence it keeps far inland, mounted above the highest peaks of 

 the Alleghany, and rarely follows the watercourses. It usually 

 arrives at its regular feeding-grounds at night, and signalizes 

 its coming by loud and vociferous screaming, with which the 

 shores ring for several hours. In the spring these birds again 

 assemble, as early as March, and after many preparations by 

 incessant washings and dressings, meanwhile disturbing the 

 neighborhood with their noise, they depart for the north with 

 a general clamor of unmusical screams. In the Chesapeake they 

 collect in flocks of from one to five hundred on the flats near the 

 western shores, from the mouth of the Susquehanna almost to 

 the Rip Raps. When alarmed they become instantly silent, and 

 they depend much more on swimming than on flying for effect- 



