CHAPTER X. 
WILD SWANS. 
Very abundant on the Pacific Coast—Classification of Linneus—Differ- 
ence between swans and ducks—Food of the swan—How to dis- 
tinguish cygnets from young snow-geese—The wooing season— 
ow brides are woun—Cygnets—Breeding grounds—Indians think 
the swan attains a great age—Opinions of Aristotle, Pliny, Virgil, 
Sonini, Ovid, and Plato on its mythical qualities—The American 
species—The trumpeting swan—General sketch—The whistling 
swan — Difference between the species—Haunts and habits — 
Swans-down—Swans rarely killed for their flesh—Cause of their 
toughness—Indians slaughter them in large numbers on the Pacific 
Coast—Very abundant along the Columbia River—Swans cannot 
rise suddenly from the water—How the sportsman should ap- 
proach them—Fly low during heavy winds—The difficulty in mak- 
ing large bags—Prices of swans in full plumage—A day among 
swans—Change of quarters—Cranes and herons as sentinels—A 
bag of swans—Lose our boat— A welcome arrival—An Indian wild- 
fowler—A destructive shot—An unwelcome bath and frozen 
clothes—A cure for a cold—A kicking gun—Windy days the best 
for shooting swans—The moulting season—“ Firc-hunting ” swans. 
These birds, which have so often aroused the poetic 
fire of bards, are more numerous west of the Rocky 
Mountains than in any other part of the world, so far as 
I can learn. They are, in fact, so abundant at the mouth 
of the Columbia River, in Oregon, which is six or seven 
miles wide, that the water seems, at a distance, to be 
covered with cumulus clouds or a snow-bank, late in 
the autumn. Their trumpeting and whistling sounds 
are familiar to those persons who have encamped on the 
wooded borders of a well-watered prairie in October, for 
they come in such vast flocks from their home in the 
Arctic regions, that they cover an immense tract of coun- 
try in a short time, and seek every available stream and 
tarn in search of food and shelter. They form a most 
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