43 



THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY, 



five years of age, is probably the most luscious of all water 

 fowl. It possesses the taste of the Goose, but more concen- 

 trated, and is far more tender; and I have known persons 

 nauseated by the extreme sweetness of the flesh. The 

 length of time this bird can be preserved untainted is re- 

 markable, having seen one of them still perfectly sweet 

 four weeks after his death, and without any means having 

 been employed, other than an exposure to the air during 

 the time, most of which had been wet and warm. The age 

 of the Swan may be known by the colour of the feathers, 

 &c., the yearling being of a deep leaden tint, with a deli- 

 cate red bill; the second year, he is of a lighter colour, 

 with a white bill; the third season, his bill has become a 

 jet black, but about one third of the plumage is still tipped 

 with grey, and till he is five years of age, an occasional 

 feather will present the tint of youth. As they live perhaps 

 to one hundred years or more, they become exceedingly 

 tough and tasteless, and flying, as they generally do, in lines 

 of from three to eight with a patriarch at the head, the lead- 

 ing Swan is usually passed and the followers chosen. 

 These elders have a note remarkably resembling, at a dis- 

 tance, the common tin trumpet, and the intensity of their 

 inharmonious scream is decreased by youth. 



" The last sweet notes of the expiring Swan" 



are as unknown in the Chesapeake, as 



"Memnon's music wliich at sun rise play'd." 



When more than one person are shooting, it is usual for 

 each to name which Swan he will aim at, and if there be 

 not enough for all, two will take a particularly good bird, 

 and if it be killed, will decide its possession afterwards, by 

 some play of chance. Few are willing to take the first 

 bird, even though their position of last in the direction of 

 flight, would compel them according to usage, to do so, not 

 only from the difiiculty and uselessness of killing the old 

 ones, but there is much less chance of a stray shot from a 

 neighbour's gun assisting in the destruction. 



In the autumn of 1829, the writer with another person, 

 was on Abby Island, when seven Swans were approaching 

 the point in one line, and three others a short distance be- 

 hind them. The small group appeared exceeding anxious 

 to pass the larger, and as they doubled the point at about 

 sixty yards distance, the three formed with the second bird 

 of the larger flock, a square of probably less than three feet. 

 At this moment both guns were discharged, and three 

 Swans were killed, and the fourth so much injured, that he 

 left the flock and reached the water a short distance in the 

 bay, but it being nearly dark, his direction was lost. 

 These, with another that had been killed within an hour, 

 and three which were subsequently obtained, were all of 



less than five years of age, and averaged a weight of 

 eighteen pounds. 



The Swans never leave the open shores of the bay for 

 the side streams, and the Geese rarely through the day, 

 though they often retire to the little inlets to roost or feed 

 at night. Few of these large game are found after their 

 regular settlement, above Spesutie Island, but lay on the 

 flats in mingled masses of from fifty to five hundred, down 

 the western shores, even as far as the Potomac. During a 

 still night, a few Swans may often be seen asleep in the 

 middle of the bay, suiTounded by a group of far more 

 watchful Geese; and the writer was paddled at day break 

 one morning within ten feet of an enormous sleeping Swan, 

 who had probably depended for alarm on the wary Geese, 

 by which he had been surrounded, but which, as we ap- 

 proached had swam away. By an unforeseen occurrence, 

 when a few seconds would have enabled us to have stunned 

 him by a blow, he became alarmed, and started in a direc- 

 tion that prevented a probable chance of killing, from our 

 position, and tottering nature of the skiflT. 



The strength of these birds is so great, that if we had at- 

 tempted his capture without first disabling him, he would 

 doubtless have upset the boat; for it has been known that a 

 full grown Swan, and adults usually measure seven feet 

 from tip to tip, is more than equal in strength, in three 

 feet water, to a good sized man. 



By the middle of December, particularly if the weather 

 has been a little severe, the fowl of every kind has become 

 so fat, that I have seen Canvass back burst open in the 

 breast in falling on the water; and spending less time in 

 feeding, pass up and down the bay from river to river, in 

 their morning and evening flights, and give at certain locali- 

 ties, great opportunities for destruction. They pursue, 

 even in their short passages, very much the order of their 

 migratory movements, of the line or baseless triangle, and 

 when the wind blows on the ^o?w/5 which may lie in their 

 course, the sportsman has gi-eat chances of success. These 

 points or coui'ses of tlic Ducks, are materially affected by 

 the winds, for they avoid, if possible, an approach to the 

 shore, but when a strong breeze sets them on these pro- 

 jections of the land, they are compelled to pass within shot, 

 and often over the land itself. 



In the Susquehanna and Elk rivers, there are few of 

 these points for shooting, and success depends in those 

 places, in destroying them on their feeding grounds. 

 After leaving the eastern point at the mouth of the Susque- 

 hanna and Turkey Point, the western side of the Elk 

 river, which are both moderately good for flying shooting, 

 the first place of much celebrity is the narrows, between 

 Spesutie Island and the western shore. These narrows 

 are about three miles in length, and from three to five 



