FIELD-DAYS IN CALIFORNIA 



their long journey towards those far-away north- 

 ern regions to which so large a proportion of our 

 water-birds betake themselves as spring returns. 

 There, for aught I know, our sleepyheads may 

 have contracted their habit of midday somno- 

 lence ; for so long as they are there, I suppose, 

 the sun never once goes down. 



The next season a single swan made its ap- 

 pearance at the lake on December 4, and re- 

 mained all by himself in perfect contentment, as 

 far as any of us could judge, till January 4. In 

 that time he had seemed to become almost a 

 part of the place, and the men in charge, who fed 

 him from the first, began to look upon him as 

 settled with them for life. But either he fell a 

 a victim to some fox or coyote, a not unlikely 

 fate, or he heard a call, inward or outward, which 

 he could not resist, and we saw him no more. 

 Since then, to the best of my knowledge, no 

 swan has been seen in Laguna Blanca. 



