ORNAMENTAL WATERFOWL. 41 
TRUMPETER SWAN. 
(Cygnus buccinator). 
This Swan is similar to the common domesticated form 
but of nearly double the size. The Trumpeter is prolific in 
captivity, having bred both in the Zoological Gardens of 
London and Paris. 
In a paper addressed to the “ Ibis,” for January, 1904, Mr. 
F. E. Blaauw writes of the species as follows :— 
‘* My pair of Trumpeter Swans ( Cygnus buccinator ) bred again this 
season. Six eggs were laid, and six Cygnets were hatched. The Cygnets are 
while with a grey tinge on the back. The cere is covered with pure white 
down. The bill is flesh-coloured, with a dark tip, and the legs are also 
flesh-coloured. The down of these Cygnets is very short and dense, quite 
different from the longer and more fluffy down of the Cygnets of Cygzzus 
nigricoll’s and Cygnus atratus. The result is that the Cygnets look much 
smaller in comparison. A conspicuous feature is the long neck, which is 
carried very stiff and upright. At the age of about six weeks the first 
feathers appear, and the birds then begin to grow very quickly. The first 
feathers are brownish grey, without any markings as a rule, but one of this 
year’s birds is remarkable for having transverse markings on the shoulders, 
and greater wing-coverts. After the birds are feathered the bills gradually 
acquire the black colour, the black beginning at the point and at the fore- 
head, and gradually increasing. Later, the middle part, which is still pink, 
gets spotted with black, and in the course of the February following the 
rst summer the whole of the bill usually becomes quite black. The legs 
by that time have also gradually darkened into dusky grey, which becomes 
black after the birds are a year old. About March white feathers begin to 
replace the grey plumage, and when a year and a half old the birds are 
quite white, except for some fine grey spots which are still visible on the 
back of the neck and on the head. Cygnus bucctnatoy never carries its 
Cygnets on its back as Cygnus nigricollts, and some of the other Swans are 
apt to do.” 
This Swan breeds in its wild state in the interior of North 
America, the skins being exported in large quantities from Hud- 
son’s Bay. Messrs. Baird, Brewer, & Ridgway’s book on “North 
American Birds” furnishes a full description of its habits. Its 
name of “Trumpeter” is derived from its peculiar cry, dependent 
