WILD FOWL. 
,53 
guns were discharged, and three Swans were killed, and the 
fourth so much injured that he left the flock and reached the 
water at a short distance in the hay ; but it being nearly dark 
his direction was lost. These, with another that had been killed 
within an hour, and three which were subsequently obtained, 
were all of less than five years of age, and averaged a weight of 
eighteen pounds. 
“ The Swans never leave the open shores of the bay for the 
side streams, and the Geese rarely through the day, though they 
often retire to the little inlets to roost or feed at night. Few of 
these large game are found, after their regular settlement above 
Spesutic Island, but lie on the flats in mingled masses of from 
fifty to a hundred, down the western shores, even as far as the 
Potomac. During a still night, a few Swans may often be seen 
asleep in the middle of the bay, surrounded by a group of far 
more watchful Geese; and the writer paddled at day-break one 
morning to within ten feet of an enormous sleeping Swan, who 
had probably depended for alarm on the wary Geese by which 
he had been surrounded, but which, as we approached, swam 
away. By an unforeseen occurrence, when a few seconds more 
would have enabled us to stun him by a blow, he became 
alarmed, and started in a direction that prevented a probable 
chance of killing, from our position and the tottering nature of 
the skiff.”— Audubon's Birds of America. 
THE TRUMPETER SWAN. 
Cygnus Buccinator; Richardson. 
u Adult, 68; wing, 27; young, 52f, 91. 
“ Breeds from North California; northward. Fur Countries. 
Abundant during the winter on the Missouri, Mississippi, Ohio, 
and in Texas. Never seen eastward of South Carolina. 
“ Adult male : 
“ Bill longer than the head, higher than broad at the base, 
