1 86 GAME BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA. 



rise from the water against the wind, and even then is obliged to 

 flap and run along the surface for many yards, before it can gain 

 way enough to rise into the air. The expert sportsman, if he dis- 

 covers a flock feeding in a creek, narrow river, or pond, will tajie 

 advantage of this fact, and may often thus make a successful shot 

 at them. This species reaches the interior, from the North, near 

 the first week in November. The birds resort, for safety, during 

 the day, to the rivers and larger ponds, and at night visit the shores, 

 shallow waters, and prairie sloughs, for the purpose of feeding. Some 

 are killed while passing from one feeding ground to another, at 

 which times, if the wind is strong and against them, they fly low 

 enough to be within reach of shot. Sometimes, too, they fly 

 within range of points of l3,nd where the hunters are concealed, 

 and are killed in this way. In shooting at birds of this genus, the 

 sportsman will do well to aim at the head or neck of the bird that 

 he has selected, as the body is so admirably protected by its cov- 

 ering of feathers, that, unless his gun be loaded with very large 

 shot, the bird, even if hit, may fly far out of reach before falling. 

 The cygnets of this species are pale grey in color, and are much 

 smaller than the full grown birds ; they are, however, delicious 

 eating, while the white individuals are, as a rule, tough and 

 stringy, in fact quite uneatable. 



About the breeding habits of this species, little or nothing is 

 known, save that the young are produced in the far North. It is 

 not improbable, however, that a few may breed in the high moun- 

 tains of Montana and Idaho, as the species has been observed 

 during the summer on the Yellowstone Lake by recent explorers. 



Cy^us (lOT^rzVawaj.— Sharpless. American Swan. Whistling Swan. 

 This species is much more widely distributed than the pre- 

 ceding. It is found throughout the whole breadth of the Conti- 

 nent, as far south as the Carolinas on the eastern seaboard, and 

 beyond the southern boundaries of the United States on the 

 western. In northern New England, however, it apparently does 

 not occur, and it is probable that in its migrations it passes over 

 , the land, instead of following the coast lines, as do most of our 

 wild fowl. 



This species is somewhat smaller than the foregoing, but i« 



