GRUS. 337 
Only two eggs are laid, of the usual type, of a buff or olive-buff colour, with spots 
and blotches of brown distributed over the surface and markings of underlying pale 
purple. 
2. Grus americana. 
The Hooping Crane, Catesby, Nat. Hist. Carol. i. p. 75, t. 75? 
Ardea americana, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 234°. 
Grus americana, Dresser, Ibis, 1865, pp. 312°, 3144; 1866, p. 50°; Dugés, La Nat. i. p. 142° 
Jouy, Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. xvi. p. 790"; Baird, Brew., & Ridgw. Water-Birds N. Amer. i. 
p. 404°; A. O. U. Check-l. N. Amer. Birds, 2nd ed. p. 75°. 
Limnogeranus americanus, Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xxiii. p. 259°, 
Alba; ala spuria, tectricibus primariorum primariisque nigris ; capite, loris et genis nudis rufescentibus, his 
et fronte vibrissis rigidis nigris indutis ; plaga nuchali triangulari schistaceo-nigra : rostro flavo; pedibus 
cerulescenti-nigris ; iride flava. Long. tota circa 48-0, ale 24-0, caudew 8°5, culm. o’4, tarsi l0°8. (Descr. 
avis adulti ex Brownsville, Texas. Mus. nostr.) 
Hab. Norra America, from the Fur Countries to Florida, Texas, and Mexico, and from 
Ohio to Colorado °.—Mexico, Matamoros (Dresser? 45), Guadalajara (Dugés °), 
Hacienda El Molino (Jouy’). 
This fine species, known as the “ Whooping Crane,” is distinguished by its bare 
head, the cheeks being also naked like the crown, and having black bristles, but not 
feathered as in the typical members of the genus Grus: only the region below and 
behind the eye is feathered. It may also be recognized by its white plumage and 
yellow bill. 
G. americana breeds in America, principally north of the 48rd parallel, also in the 
prairies of Central Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and Dakota, migrating south in winter 8, 
Its range formerly extended to the Atlantic coast, occasionally as far north as New 
England °. 
The species occurs in Mexico during the winter season, but the records are very 
few. Mr. Dresser states that he saw two of these Cranes on his first visit to the lagoon 
of Matamoros in June 1860, and he subsequently observed a small flock of seven or 
eight 4°. Jouy remarks 7 :—‘ Several living specimens of this magnificent bird were 
kept at the Hacienda El Molino by Sefior José Maria Negrete, as one of the attractions 
of his place. ‘They were quite tame and walked freely about, guarded by an aged 
peon with a staff, whose sole duty it was to feed them, and drive them to ) and from 
their watering-place.” 
The habits of G. americana are very like those of G. canadensis, and it places its 
nest in similar localities. ‘wo eggs are laid, which are described by Brewer 8 as of 
a deep greyish-white, washed with sepia, and marked sparsely, except at the larger 
end, with bold patches of dark rusty brown. 
BIOL, CENTR.-AMER., Aves, Vol. III., Aprid 1903. 43 
