XX 



THE WILD SWANS 



THERE are two swans indigenous to North Amer- 

 ica. Both are white birds, but they are easily- 

 distinguished by their size. The trumpeter swan is 

 the larger and weighs from twenty to thirty pounds. 

 The smaller bird, known as the whistling swan, 

 weighs from twelve to twenty pounds. 



These birds are extremely wild and shy, and but 

 few sportsmen have shot them. 



The smaller bird is found throughout America, and 

 is still fairly abundant in the winter on the Currituck 

 Sound, where Elliot says they do great damage to the 

 feeding grounds, destroying very much more grass 

 than they consume, and for this reason they are not 

 altogether regarded with favor by sportsmen, as they 

 soon render useless large tracts of grass-covered bot- 

 tom to which ducks and geese would resort for a long 

 time, but which they are forced to desert on account 

 of the wasteful destruction. 



The swans fly in long lines like the geese, and are 

 very beautiful in the air, as well as on the water 

 when the sun shines on their white feathers. The 

 smaller birds are said to be gaining in numbers in the 

 Southern sounds and are common in Texas in the 

 winter. They are more often shot as they fly over. 



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