. Our own birds : a familiar natural history of the birds of the United States . oose pays no regard to it; buthowever faint and distant may be the sound of anIndians paddle, that may by accident have struckthe side of his canoe, it is at once marked, every in-dividual raises its head and looks intently towardthe place from which the noise has proceeded, andin silence all watch the movements of their the Swan family we have two species, theAmerican Swan and the Trumpeter Swan. The lat-ter appears to be exclusively a western species, beingmost abundant in the vicinity of the Mississipp
. Our own birds : a familiar natural history of the birds of the United States . oose pays no regard to it; buthowever faint and distant may be the sound of anIndians paddle, that may by accident have struckthe side of his canoe, it is at once marked, every in-dividual raises its head and looks intently towardthe place from which the noise has proceeded, andin silence all watch the movements of their the Swan family we have two species, theAmerican Swan and the Trumpeter Swan. The lat-ter appears to be exclusively a western species, beingmost abundant in the vicinity of the Mississippi, Mis-souri, and other western rivers, during Winter, andbreeding from California northward to the fur coun-tries. The American Swan is found in Winter alongthe Atlantic coasts, sometimes in considerable num-bers, particularly in Chesapeake Bay, but appears to THE AMERICAN SWAN. 289 be scarce south of this, its principal haunts being tothe northward. During the summer months theshores of the Polar Sea afford it a safe retreat, whereit may rear its young in comparative safety. American Swan. The flight of these birds is powerful and rapid,and is often prolonged to a wonderful extent. Dur-ing their migrations they soar to a great height, over-topping the mountains, and seldom pause during thejourney between our latitude and the place of theirsummer abode, except when their progress is impededby a storm, above the region of which they mostlytravel. They always advance in small flocks in theshape of a V, the leader being at the point. Whenthey arrive at the place of their destination, whichis generally at night, they occupy themselves at oncein making amends for their long abstinence from food,and join in a wild chorus of congratulations whichalmost makes the shores ring. While feeding, or dur- 240 NATATORES. ing the operation of dressing and arranging theirplumage, they are apt to be very noisy, their notesvarying much from high to low, according to circum-stances. But so vigilan
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1879
