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TRUMPETER SWAN. 



"tCrGNus Buccinator, Richardson. 

 PLATE CCCLXXXIL— Adult. PLATE CCCLXXXIIL— Young in Winter. 



The history of the American Swans has been but very slightty traced. 

 Few records of the habits of these majestic, elegant, and useful birds exist, 

 on which much reliance can be placed; their geographical range still remains 

 an unsolved problem; one species has been mistaken for another, and this by 

 ornithologists who are said to be of the first order. The Cygnus Bewickii of 

 Great Britain has been given as a North American Swan in place of Cygnus 

 Americanus (well described by Dr. Shaepless of Philadelphia) in the 

 Fauna Boreali-Americana; and the latter bird has been taken for the 

 Whistling Swan, C. musicus of Bechstein, by the Prince of Musignano, 

 who says in his Synopsis, p. 379, No. 321, that it is "very numerous in 

 winter in Chesapeake Bay." It is possible that we may have more than 

 two species of Swan within the limits of North America, but I am at present 

 acquainted with only that which forms the subject of this article, and the 

 Cygnus Jlmericanus of Sharpless. 



In a note contained in the Journals of Lewis and Clark, written in the 

 course of the expedition of these daring travellers across the Rocky Moun- 

 tains, it is stated that "the Swans are of two kinds, the large and small. 

 The large Swan is the same with the one common in the Atlantic States. 

 The small differs from the large only in size and note; it is about one fourth 

 less, and its note is entirely different. These birds were first found below 

 the great narrows of the Columbia, near the Chilluckittequaw nation. They 

 are very abundant in this neighbourhood, and remained with the party all 

 winter, and in number they exceed those of the larger species in the 

 proportion of five to one." These observations are partly correct and partly 

 erroneous. In fact, the smaller species of the two, which is the C. Ameri- 

 canus of Sharpless, is the only one abundant in the middle districts of our 

 Atlantic coast, while the larger Swan, the subject of this article, is rarely if 

 ever seen to the eastward of the mouths of the Mississippi. A perfect 

 specimen of the small Swan mentioned by Lewis and Clark has been 

 transmitted to me from the Columbia river by Mr. Townsend, and I find it 

 to correspond in every respect with the C. Jlmericanus of Sharpless. Mr. 



