Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1885-06-11
THE "TRUMPETER" SWAN.

THE "TRUMPETER" SWAN.
A Fine Specimen of q Bird That Figures
Largely In sport and Song-Habits and
Habitat of the swan-Loves OF Natural
lists.
A fine specimen of the trumpeter
swan, weighing twenty pounds, five
feet from end of tail to end OF bill,
and extent of wings seven feet, has
been hanging in front of a commission
house on Delaware, south of Washing
ton, for several days. 1t was shot on
the Kankakee marshes. This is the
largest American bird, sometimes at
tanning weight of forty pounds.
North America has two species of the
wild swan. The whistling swan, rare
in the interior but common near the
coasts, especially of the Arctic region
of the continent. The whistler weighs
twenty-four pounds. 1t is common on
the Chesapeake from November to
March, then going north to breed.
Under five years old it is considered the
finest eating of any waterfowl on the
bay, having the flavor of the finest
goose, and the '.song of the swan"
which is audible several miles, varies
from the lower notes of a tin horn
through the various modulations of the
cornet. On the bay they are taken by
sailing down on them as they rise hard
against the wind and shooting them
through the long neck. The downy
body is shot-proof Hunters also pad
die into the flock, wearing white
dresses, and with boats covered with
ice, then knocking them down with
poles. These birds mott in July and
can not fly. At that time the Indians
about st. MichaePs, Alaska, spear
them with bone tridents. They lay
four eggs in July. four and one-half by
two and one-half inches in size. The
eggs of the trumpeter are little
larger.
Both species, as is the case with the
chopper" or ''whistling swan OF Eu-
rope, also, have been tanned and do
mest;cated. The English swan has
been taken in Greenland, and both our
species have occasionally wandered
across the Atlantic to Scotland. They
fly rapidly-one hundred miles an hour
before the wiud-and. as with geese
and ducks, in an angle, an elongated
wedge, the old swans taking the lead
with loud and sonorous screams.
Both the trumpeter and the whistler
have been domesticated in the ceme-
terry at Cincinnati-the former species
from young cygnets taken from Oak
land Valley, Iowa, in the spring OF 1881.
Three OF these were purchased for
Mount Auburn cemetery. They showed
no fear, eating out of the hands of
strangers. A pa r of trumpeters were
sent from the Cincinnati cemetery to
the London Geological Gardens. Au-
dubon kept one for two years; it knew
its name and took food from his hand,
about the yard as If it owned the prem
Uses.
The trumpeter winters in the south
from Illinois to Mexico, and is frequent
ly exposed for sale in the markets of
New Orleans They 90 north in early
spring to breed. Both species are
strictly homogeneous, the trumpeter
bringing forth five to seven young in
late June or early July. 1t is quite
likely they still breed in Northern In
diana. Trumpeters are shot on the
marshes within few miles of Chicago,
and are sold on the markets for from
81 to 50. They are shot by rifle through
the head or neck, when sitting on the
water, as shot has no more effect on
their thick down than on feather-bed
Swans eat about the same quality of
food as ducks and geese, their shorter
necked allies; they feed in the same
way, Their bills and necks in the water
and their feet in the air to keep their
balance. They eat roots, leaves, seeds,
insects, land snails, small fish, etc.
The specimen brought to this city
last week was well filled with snalls,
and the solid bulbs of a water plant
about an inch long, which were as hard
as wood. except the just sprouting CEN
tiers. The breast steaks, each weigh
ing about a pound and a half, were
very tender, and, when bro.led, were
excellent eating. as the writer can tes-
tify.
1t is hardly necessary to add any
thing to the well-known history of this
bird. When clean, they are grayish-
white, tinged with yellow, except red
dish-brown suffusion of the head and
cheeks. Our species have black feet
and bills, with dark-brown eyes. There
are eight or ten kinds inhablting the
various continents, among them the
celebrated black swan of South Aus
tralia, and the black-necked swan of
South America, manly in Chill. Nor
is it necessary to add that their fancied
musical ability, either in health or at
the close of life, is not confirmed by
listening to their vocal efforts, and is
contradlcted by such common names
as Hooper for the European, and
whistler and ''Trumpeter" for the
American species; nor are their musical
abilities confirmed by examination OF
their vocal apparatus. The windpipe is
three feet long, and is coiled up in a
horizontal coil in cavity in the keel of
the breastbone, doubling on itself and
then emerging to return to the lungs.
There are no laryngeal muscles or other
apparatus for modulating the voice, as
with the singing birds. The sexes are
colored similarly, and there are no.
seasonal or sexual plumages, as with
many birds. The extreme length and
t1exibility of the neck, their movements
and attitudes in the water, are pro-
verbally elegant and graceful. ''Her
neck was like the swans" says Burns
of Annie Laurie, while graceful as
swan" and ''soft as swans down" are
common figures.
The swan was the especial favorite of
the genial Charles Waterton. the En-
glish naturalist. who tanned them and
studied their hab is. At his island
home. Walton Hall, he had a lake of
twenty-five acres, where tlocks of over
fifty wild swans often made long So
journs. The whole estate he sur
rounded with an eight-foot wall, cost
ing $4,000. simply to keep natural |
wild for birds and beasts. Thousands |