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. 
