TRUMPETER SWAN. 537 
has been transmitted to me from the Columbia River by Dr TownsEnp, 
and I find it to correspond in every respect with the OC. Americanus of 
Syarpiess. Dr Townsenp corroborates the observations of the two 
eminent travellers by stating, that the latter species is much more nu- 
merous than the large C. Buccinator. 
The Trumpeter Swans make their appearance on the lower portions 
of the waters of the Ohio about the end of October. They throw them- 
selves at once into the larger ponds or lakes at no great distance from 
the river, giving a marked preference to those which are closely sur- 
rounded by dense and tall cane-brakes, and there remain until the water 
is closed by ice, when they are forced to proceed southward. During 
mild winters I have seen Swans of this species in the ponds about 
Henderson until the beginning of March, but only a few individuals, 
which may have staid there to recover from their wounds. When the 
cold became intense, most of those which visited the Ohio would re- 
move to the Mississippi, and proceed down that stream as the severity 
of the weather increased, or return if it diminished; for it has ap- 
peared to me, that neither very intense cold nor great heat suit them 
so well as a medium temperature. I have traced the winter migra- 
tions of this species as far southward as the Texas, where it is abun- 
dant at times, and where I saw a pair of young ones in captivity, and 
quite domesticated, that had been procured in the winter of 1836. 
They were about two years old, and pure white, although of much 
smaller size than even the younger one represented in the plate before 
you, having perhaps been stinted in food, or having suffered from their 
wounds, as both had been shot. The sound of their well-known notes 
reminded me of the days of my youth, when I was half-yearly in the 
company of birds of this species. 
At New Orleans, where I made the drawing of the young bird here 
given, the Trumpeters are frequently exposed for sale in the markets, 
being procured on the ponds of the interior, and on the great lakes 
leading to the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. This species is unknown 
to my friend, the Rev. Joun Bacuman, who, during a residence of 
twenty years in South Carolina, never saw or heard of one there; 
whereas in hard winters the Cygnus Americanus is not uncommon, al- 
though it does not often proceed farther southward than that State. 
The waters of the Arkansas and its tributaries are annually supplied 
with Trumpeter Swans, and the largest individual which I have exa- 
