TRUMPETER SWAN. 225 



length, and the space intervening between the bill 

 and the eye, are bare. Plumage dense, soft, and 

 elastic ; on the head and neck the feathers oblong, 

 acuminate; on the other parts in general broadly 

 ovate and rounded ; on the back short and compact. 

 Wings long and broad; the anterior protuberance 

 of the first phalangeal bone very prominent ; pri- 

 maries curved, stiff, tapering to an obtuse point, 

 the second longest, exceeding the first by half an 

 inch, and the third by a quarter of an inch ; 

 secondaries very broad and rounded, some of the 

 inner rather pointed. Tail very short, graduated, 

 of twenty-four stiffish, moderately broad, pointed 

 feathers, of which the middle exceeds, the lateral 

 by two inches and a quarter. 



Bill and feet black, the outer edges of the lower 

 mandible and the inside of the mouth yellowish 

 flesh-color. The plumage is pure white, excepting 

 the upper part of the head, which varies from 

 brownish red to white, apparently without refer- 

 ence to age or sex, as in cygnus Americanus and 

 anser hyperboreus. 



Length to end of tail, 68 inches ; bill along the 

 ridge, 4 T ^-; from the eye to the tip, 6. 



Young after the first moult: 



In winter the young has the bill black, with 



