162 U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 217 



than six were recalled. Ben Charlie and Freddie Frost reported that 

 they saw two swan's nests containing five eggs each at Crow Flats 

 this season. Joe Kay gave the Indian name of the swan as Taru% and 

 the stories related to me showed it to have a regular place in Indian 

 tales concerning natural history. 



Richardson (1852, p. 304) cites a letter written to him by Alexander 

 Murray, who established Fort Yukon, in which occurs an interesting 

 reference to swans in the course of a vivid description of the migrations 

 of birds in spring at Fort Yukon : "Of the two kinds of swan only 

 the largest sort are seen here ; they pass on to the northward of the 

 Porcupine Eiver to breed in the lakes there." After Murray's ref- 

 erence to swans, Richardson wrote in ^^Gygnus buccinator." The ob- 

 server and his reporter command such attention for the accuracy of 

 their observations that we must believe that in about 1847 trumpeter 

 swans migrated to the Porcupine. Dall and Bannister (1869) re- 

 ported that Lockhart had found a set of trumpeter swan's eggs near 

 Fort Yukon. It is to be hoped that it may turn out that trmnpeter 

 swans still migrate to the Porcupine. This hope is encouraged by the 

 recent discovery of trumpeter swans nesting on the Copper River 

 (Monson, 1956) and accumulating evidence that a fair number nest 

 on the Kenai Peninsula. 



Branta canadensis taverneri Delacour 



1 female 



June 6 



weight 1741 g. 



little fat 



6 ruptured follicles 

 (brood patch) 



1 female 



June 19 



weight 2219 g. 



little fat 



egg, 5 mm. 



Canada geese were first seen May 6. Until May 11 a few groups 

 of two or four birds each were seen. During this period about 30 

 geese were recorded. Most of those noticed on the wing were look- 

 ing about as if interested in landing. A number of them alighted on 

 the ice of the river, where their sleeping postures and the accumula- 

 tion of droppings showed that they rested for some hours before 

 leaving. Some of the Canada geese seen in this first period were 

 flying from the east but the direction was not certainly established. 

 By their inclination to rest they seemed to be arriving from a long 

 flight. There was rarely a sound from them. 



From May 11 to May 18 single birds, twos, and groups of four and 

 six occasionally passed, sometimes honking. They now often appeared 

 flying from the west along the Porcupine River, but their flight was 

 less decisive of direction than in the first few days, and they often 

 circled the village and swerved to the howls of dogs and calls of men. 

 The river was only melted in superficial pools which froze at night, so 

 that it could be regularly crossed afoot until May 16. Although 

 brooks were now running, no lakes were open, the snow cover was con- 



