In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Trumpeter Swan was hunted heavily, both as game and a source of feathers. This species is also unusually sensitive to lead poisoning while young. These birds once bred in North America from northwestern Indiana west to Oregon in the U.S., and in Canada from James Bay to the Yukon, but their comparatively small numbers in the southern part of their range were reduced to near zero by the mid-twentieth century. Many thousands survived in the core range in Canada and Alaska, however, where populations have since rebounded. Many thousand Trumpeters spend the winter in the sheltered bays and farmlands on Vancouver Island. It is the largest native swan in North America.