AMERICAN SWAN. 229 



broken wing, and almost lifting the object of their affectionate care out of 

 the water. 



''Whilst feeding and dressing, Swans make much noise, and through the 

 night their vociferations can be heard for several miles. Their notes are 

 extremely varied, some closely resembling the deepest base of the common 

 tin-horn, whilst others run through every modulation of false note of the 

 french-horn or clarionet. Whether this difference of note depends on age or 

 sex I am not positively assured. 



"The Swan requires five or six years to reach its perfect maturity of size 

 and plumage, the yearling Cygnet being about one-third the magnitude of 

 the adult, and having feathers of a deep leaden colour. The smallest Swan 

 I have ever examined, and it was killed in my presence, weighed but eight 

 pounds. Its plumage was very deeply tinted, and it had a bill of a very 

 beautiful flesh-colour, and very soft. This Cygnet, I presume, was a 

 yearling, for I killed one myself the same day, whose feathers were less 

 dark, but whose bill was of a dirty white; and the bird weighed twelve 

 pounds. This happened at a time when my attention was not turned 

 scientifically to the subject, and I have forgotten other singularities of the 

 specimens. By the third year the bill becomes black, and the colour of the 

 plumage less intense, except on the top of the head and back of the neck, 

 which are the last parts forsaken by the colour. Swans of the sixth year 

 have assumed all the characters of the adult, and very old birds have a hard 

 protuberance on the bend of the last joint of the wing. When less than six 

 years of age, these birds are very tender and delicious eating, having the 

 colour and flavour of the Goose; the latter quality, however, being more 

 concentrated and luscious. Hearne considers a Swan, "when roasted, equal 

 in flavour to young heifer beef, and the Cygnets are very delicate." As 

 these birds live to a great age, they grow more tough and dry as they 

 advance, the patriarchs being as unmasticable and unsavoury as the Cygnets 

 are tender and delightful. 



"There are many modes practised in the United States of destroying 

 these princely ornaments of the water. In shooting them whilst flying with 

 the wind, the writer just mentioned declares, "they are the most difficult 

 bird to kill I know, it being frequently necessary to take sight ten or twelve 

 feet before the bill." This I should consider an unnecessary allowance, 

 unless driven by a hurricane, but, on ordinary occasions, the bill is aimed at, 

 and if going with a breeze at a long shot, a foot before the bill would be quite 

 sufficient. The covering is so extremely thick on old birds, that the largest 

 drop shot will rarely kill unless the Swan is struck in the neck or under the 

 wing, and I have often seen large masses of feathers torn from them, without 

 for an instant impeding their progress. 



