GRUIDjE THE CRANES. 99 



Grus americana (Linn.) 



WHOOPING CRANE. 

 Popular synonym. Great White Crane. 



Ardea americana LINN. S. N. od. 12, i. 1766, 234. WILS. Am. Orn. viii, 1814, 20, pi. 64. fig. 3. 



Grus americana Sw. & RICH. F. B.-A. ii. 1831. 372. NUTT. Man. 1834, 34. AUD. Orn. 



Biog. iii, 1835, 202, pi. 226; Syuop. 1839, 219; B. Am. v, 1842, 188, pi. 313. BAIBD, B. N. Am. 



1858, 654; Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, No. 478. CouES, Key, 1872. 271; Check List, 1873, No. 



462; ed. 2, 1882, No. 668; Birds N. W. 1874, 530. RIDGW. Norn. N. Am. B. 1881. No. 582; 



Man. N. Am. B. 1881, No. 582.-A. O. U. Check List, 1886, No. 204. 



Grus hoyanus, DUDLEY, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. vii, 1854. (>4 (young). STIMPSON, 



Mem. Chicago Acad. i, 1868, 129, pi. 19. 



HAB. The interior of North America from Texas and Florida to the Fur Countries, 

 and from Colorado to Ohio; south to Guanajuato, Central Mexico? 1 Formerly found, 

 casually, in the Atlantic States. 



SP. CHAR. Adult: Whole crown and occiput covered by a warty or granulated skin 

 almost bare on the occiput, but covered anteriorly by black hair-like bristles; the color 

 of this skin reddish in life. Lores and malar region, including a narrow angular strip 

 extending from the latter down each side of the throat, also naked, and similarly bristled, 

 the bristles denser anteriorly. Color entirely pure white, excepting the primaries and 

 their coverts, which are uniform slate-black, and a patch of plumbeous on the upper 

 part of the nape, adjoining the bare skin of the occiput and extending downward for 

 the distance of about two inches. "Bill wax-yellow; iris gamboge-yellow; bare skin of 

 head dull orange-color; legs blue-black." (Sw. & RICH. 1. c.) Young: Head completely- 

 feathered. General color white, with large patches here and there, especially above, of 

 light cinnamon, the head and neck almost continuously of this color. The primaries 

 and their coverts uniform dull black, as in the adult, Bill dull wax-yellow, the terminal 

 portion blackish; legs and feet blackish. Immature: Bare portions of the head indicated 

 by feathers of a harsher texture and darker color than elsewhere, occupying the areas 

 which are naked in the fully adult. Plumage much stained with pale cinnamon, as in 

 the first plumage. 



Total length, about 52.00 inches; extent, 92.00; wing, 24.00; culmen, 5.35; tarsus. 12.00; 

 middle toe, 4.25. 



Once an abundant migrant, and in some localities a common 

 summer resident, this grand bird is now rare in most parts of 

 the State, and is becoming yearly more so. Mr. Nelson remarks 

 of it: "Along the Illinois River and more thinly settled portions 

 of the State it is still common during the migrations, and a few 

 pairs breed upon the large marshes in central Illinois." 



Grus mexicana (Mull.) 



SAND HILL CRANE. 



f 



Pomilar synomym. Brown Crane. 



Ardea (grus) mexicana MULL. S. N. Suppl. 1776, 110 (ex BBISS. Orn. v, 380). 



Grus canadensis, ft. mexicana B. B. & R. Water B. N. Am. i, 1884, 407. 



Grus mexicana RIDGW. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. viii, 1885. 350 ; Man. N. Am. B. 1887, 135.- 

 A. O. U. Check List, 1886. No. 206. 



1 Fide Professor A. Duges, in epist. 



