Trumpeter swan Edward Preble wrote of the decline in the hunt with the number sold annually dropping from 1,312 in 1854 to 122 in 1877. Sir John Richardson wrote in 1831 that the trumpeter "is the most common Swan in the interior of the fur-counties... It is to the trumpeter that the bulk of the Swan-skins imported by the Hudson's Bay Company belong." By the early twentieth century breeding trumpeter swans were nearly extirpated in the United States except for a remnant population of fewer than 70 wild trumpeters in remote hot springs in or near Yellowstone National Park. Surprising news came
What Bird is That? kookaburra seated on and within a large red question mark. It contains 36 coloured plates of paintings of Australian birds by the author, as well as several black-and-white photographic plates of habitat. There were numerous reprints and revised editions in various formats produced well into the 1980s. The first edition was sponsored by the Gould League of Bird Lovers of New South Wales of which Cayley was a Council member. In return for its sponsorship, Cayley offered the Gould League four tenths of his 10% book royalty. However, initial sales were slow and in 1935 he sold his entire share