WHISTLING SWAN. 23 



and piled up on the side, and when the water is 

 moderately shjdlow, I have known a sailboat to be 

 frequently grounded upon the lumps thus formed. 

 In this way these birds do great damage to feed- 

 ing grounds, and destroy very much more edible grass 

 than they consume. For this reason they are not 

 altogether regarded with favor by sportsmen, as they 

 soon render useless large tracts of grass-covered bottom 

 to which Ducks and Geese would resort for a long time, 

 but which they are forced to desert on account of the 

 wasteful destruction of their food committed by the 

 Swan. As a rule this species pays but little attention to 

 decoys, or wooden representatives placed among a num- 

 ber of live Geese tied out for the same purpose. Most 

 of the birds that are procured are shot from points over 

 which the Swan fly as they pass up and down their feed- 

 ing grounds; or are killed from boats sailed down upon 

 them before the wind. Swan being so large and heavy 

 cannot easily take wing, but are obliged to force them- 

 selves over the water, and against the wind, by rapid and 

 powerful beats of the wings and feet, until, obtaining 

 the requisite momentum, they are lifted into the air. 

 Of course then, when a boat approaches them down 

 wind, they are obliged as it were, to run toward it, before 

 they are able to fly away, and it not unfrequently happens 

 that a person in a sailboat can thus get within shooting 

 distance of these wary birds. Large shot and heavy loads 

 of powder are needed to bring them down; an ounce 

 or an ounce and a half of double T., with five drams of 

 powder, is a good load for them. When a flock is 

 shot on the wing the birds rarely swerve from their 

 course, and even when one falls the rest close up the gap 

 and keep on as if nothing had happened. If very near 

 the sportsman, however, when he fires, the birds will 



