124 THE CONDOR — Vol. XXI _ 
In June, 1891, I heard the song of a Wilson Snipe at dusk over a marsh in Owens 
Valley. I have no doubt but that this species bred there. 
The Long-billed Dowitchers have been common around the bays all winter. I saw 
several about the first of February.—F RANK STEPHENS, San Diego, California, February 
12, 1919. , 1 SOAR 
A Supposed California-taken Trumpeter Swan.—Reference is made in the “Game 
Birds of California” (page 254) to a juvenile Trumpeter Swan from California in the 
British Museum, recorded by Count Salvadori in the “Catalogue of Birds” (vol. xxvu, 
p. 35). I examined this bird in November, 1908, at a time when the variations of size 
and points of difference between the Whistling and Trumpeter swans were fresh in my 
mind. Some four years before this date Mr. P. A. Taverner and I had begun a study of 
the swans. We had accumulated a large series of measurements, and Mr. Taverner had 
made many drawings to scale of the heads. This material was before me when I studied 
tne series of swans in the British Museum. The bird itself is given in the “Catalogue of 
Birds” as ‘“‘c. Juv. sk. California. J. Richards, Esq. [P.].”; and the number on the 
label is ‘57.10.9.2”, indicating that the skin was registered on October 9, 1857. Who the 
donor, “J. Richards’, was I have been unable to find out; no reference is made to him 
by Dr. Sharpe in his published account of the bird collection. The neck of the swan 
contains a newspaper dated San Francisco, December 8, 1856, so there is little doubt the 
bird is correctly assigned to California. The feathers of the head are gray, as are those 
of the back and flanks, the primaries and tail feathers; the axillars are whitish gray, the 
Heak black with a faintly indicated spot that is reddish in the dried skin, but would be 
flesh color in life. The culmen is V-shaped, and the age of the bird is under a year; 
fixing the age is comparatively easy, but deciding as to the identity of the species is 
another matter. 
A juvenile male swan taken on Lake St. Clair, on the Michigan side, March 27, 
1908, and known as no. 61 in the series of measurements prepared by Mr. Taverner and 
inyself, was found to match very closely the California bird in color, outline of beak, and 
age; the flesh-colored spot in front of the eye of no. 61 is surrounded by feathers, while 
in the California bird the feather line has receded sufficiently to leave the spot exposed. 
Fortunately the sternum with the trachea and bronchial tubes of no. 61 have been pre- 
served and would alone identify it as a Whistling Swan; so there is little doubt that the 
California bird too, is of this species. Both birds belong to the straight-beaked type that 
approaches closely in the shape of the beak to the Trumpeter Swan and is often difficult 
to place without the sternum. Swans of the two species overlap in measurements in 
their first year. To illustrate this I give the measurements of three swans all under a 
year old, two the birds already discussed, the other a Trumpeter Swan taken at Leg Lake, 
Lincoln County, Washington, November 24, 1906. 
» ® Or = =e es 
so) oO a) Pp re oo x » 
S N i) Om! oe ga 5 we 
g as) He HO 62 = 8 O-n 
S) Ss Ko} Se ee dat Oars 2) 
° 52) I ey ce 50 GS Sy, c o & 
S) Go as) Od, OO PS eS) Sc = to Qe 
= a ¢ o |  foe8e ao Sob eeas . 0 6S Se 
S Sa ee aay OS 3S ® case 
6) HA “i (OUS S Oise Gio Ora 4 .- Boze 
British 
Museum California juv. 4.8 2.78.2.02 3.1 1.37 1.75 (56:?) (21-5 eee 
SAO 952 
St. Clair Flats, 
Series 61 Michigan, A juv. 4.62 2.5 °2.12.3:2 1.1 1.75 50:75 “20.4%Gsaeeee 
March 27, 1908 
Coll.J.H.F. Leg Lake, Lincoln 
No. 12407 County, Washington, juv. 4.9 2.8 2.1 3.51.3 1.85 
November 24, 1906 
—J. H. Fremine, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, March 15, 1919. 
20.2 5.3 20 
