AMERICAN SWAN. 135 



often changing his position and falling into the rear. On several occa- 

 sions I have seen seven or eight leading the long single files behind 

 them in a kind of disorderly crowded manner, which was continued 

 until the birds were out of sight. 



Not having had sufficient opportunities of studying the habits of 

 these birds on the waters of the Chesapeake, where they are most nu- 

 merous whilst in the Middle Districts, 1 here present you with an ac- 

 count of them kindly transmitted to me by Dr Sharpless of Philadel- 

 phia : — 



" About the first of September, the Swans leave the shores of the 

 Polar Sea, according to Feanklin, and resort to the lakes and rivers 

 in about the latitude of Hudson's Bay (60°), where they remain pre- 

 paring for a departure for the winter until October, when they collect 

 in flocks of twenty or thirty, and seizing favourable weather, with the 

 wind not opposed to the direction of their flight, they mount high in 

 the air, form a prolonged wedge, and with loud screams depart for 

 more genial climes. When making either their semi-annual transmi- 

 gration, or on shorter expeditions, an occasional scream equal to ' how 

 do you all come on behind ?'' issues from the leader, which' is almost 

 immediately replied to by some posterior Swan with an ' all's weir vo- 

 ciferation. When the leader of the party becomes fatigued with his 

 extra duty of cutting the air, he falls in the rear, and his neighbour 

 takes his place. When mounted, as they sometimes are, several thou- 

 sand feet above the earth, with their diminished and delicate outline 

 hardly perceptible against the clear blue of heaven, this harsh sound 

 softened and modulated by distance, and issuing from the immense 

 void above, assumes a supernatural character of tone and impression, 

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



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

 protrude and present, at a distance, mere lines with black points, and 

 occupy more than one-half their whole length, their heavy bodies and 

 triangular wings seeming but mere appendages to the prolonged point 

 in front. 



" When thus in motion, their wings pass through so few degrees of 

 the circle, that, unless seen horizontally, they appear almost quiescent, 

 being widely different from the heavy semicircular sweep of the Goose. 

 The Swan, when migrating, with a moderate wind in his favour, and 

 mounted high in the air, certainly travels at the fate of one hundred 



