244 VERTEBRATES I BIRDS. 



anterior ones ; and the young are hatched in a weak 

 condition, and reared in a nest. It includes the Gruidae 

 or Crane Family, Aramidae or Courlan Family, Ardeidae 

 or Heron Family, Cancromidae or Boat-bill Family, Cin- 

 conidae or Stork Family, Tantalidae or Ibis Family, Plata- 

 leidae or Spoon-bill Family., and Phcenicopteridas or Fla- 

 mingo Family. 



GRUIDAE, OR CRANE FAMILY. This Family comprises 

 very large birds, which have the head more or less bare, 

 the toes connected by a basal membrane, and the hind 

 toe short and much elevated. They inhabit dry plains. 



The Genus Grus is the only one represented in North 

 America. 



The White or Whooping Crane, G. americanus, Ord, 

 of Florida and Texas, and occasionally in the Mississippi 

 Valley, is fifty-two inches long, and the wing twenty-four 

 inches. 



The Sandhill Crane, or Brown Crane, G. canadcnsis, 

 Temm., of the Mississippi Valley and westward, is forty- 

 eight inches long, and the wing twenty-two inches. It is 

 exceedingly wary, and its sight and hearing are acute. 

 When wounded, it is dangerous to approach it, as a single 

 thrust from its bill may inflict a severe wound. 



The Little Crane, G. fraterculus, Cass., of New Mexico, 

 is seventeen and a half inches long. 



ARAMID.E, OR COURLAN FAMILY. This Family com- 

 prises birds which have the head feathered to the bill, 

 toes cleft to the base, and the hind toe long. 



The Genus Aramus is represented by the Courlan, or 

 Crying Bird, A. giganteus, Baird, of Florida and the West 

 Indies, which is twenty-seven and a half inches long. 



ARDEID^, OR HERON FAMILY. This Family com- 

 prises waders which have the bill acuminate, compressed, 

 acute, and the edges usually notched at the end ; the 

 frontal feathers generally extending beyond the nostrils, 



