406 ALECTORIDES. 



or eight ; but these were so wary that he only succeeded in shooting two. He inquired 

 of the Mexicans as to where they bred, and was informed that their eggs could be 

 procured at a lagoon some distance to the west of Bagdad, Boca del Rio Grande. Mr. 

 Dresser was not able to go there, and was thus unable to test the accuracy of this 

 very doubtful information. On his return to Matamoras, in 1864, he saw none at the 

 lagoons there. During his rambles in Texas he saw this bird on only two or three 

 occasions near San Antonio, and once at Point Isabel. He was told that it is occa- 

 sionally seen on Galveston Island, and at the inouth of the Brazos River, Mr. J. A. 

 Allen was informed that it is tolerably common in the valley of Great Salt Lake, 

 both in the s])ring and in the fall. 



Mr. Boardman writes me that, so far as he is aware, this sjjecies is wholly unknoAvn 

 on the coast of Maine ; and I can find no certain evidence that it has ever been seen 

 in any part of 'New England. It is not given by Giraud as a bird of Long Island, 

 and is very rare on any part of the coast north of the Chesapeake, though Mr. Turn- 

 bull states that, in 1857, while at Beasley's Point, he saw three of this species o& the 

 inlet. They were very wary, and could not be approached. In Wilson's day a few 

 appeared in the marshes of Cape May in December, particularly on and near Egg 

 Island, and lingered in those marshes during the whole of the winter, setting out 

 northward about the time the ice broke up. Daring their stay they wandered about 

 the marshes and muddy flats near the sea-shore, occasionally sailing from place to 

 place with a low and heavy flight, just above the surface, at times uttering a loud, 

 clear, and piercing cry, which might be heard to the distance of two miles. This 

 singular cry — to which the Whooping Crane owes its name — is uttered with vari- 

 ous modulations. 



As Wilson considered the G. canadensis to be l)ut the immature bird of this sjiecies, 

 we cannot with certainty separate his statements and assign each Avhere it belongs. 

 He states that he frequently met witli it in the low grounds and rice plantations of 

 the Southern States, noticing it near the Waccamaw River, in South Carolina, on the 

 30th of February, and in a pond near Louisville on the 20th of March. The l)irds 

 seen were extremely shy and vigilant. They would sometimes rise spirally in the 

 air to a great height, the mingled noise of the screaming, even when the flock was 

 almost beyond the reach of sight, resembling that of a pack of hounds in full cry. 

 On these occasions they flew around in large circles, as if reconnoitring the country 

 to a vast extent for fresh quarters to feed in. His information in regard to their 

 breeding must be rejected as agreeing in no respect with the present reality. Audu- 

 bon also regarded the canadensis as identical with the young of this species, and he 

 gives the time of its arrival in the western country as about the middle of October 

 or fii'st of November, in flocks of twenty or thirty, and even thrice that number, 

 spreading from the Northwestern States to the Carolinas and Florida, on the south- 

 east to Louisiana and the countries bordering on Mexico, in all of which this Crane 

 spends the winter, returning north about the beginning of May. He found it on the 

 edges of large ponds, in swampy woods, and in extensive morasses. In its migra- 

 tions it travels both by night and day. He states that in the fall, while the water 

 is low in the ])onds, this bird works Avith its bill in the mud to uncover the roots of 

 the great water-lily, which when reached it greedily devours. While intent upon 

 this the bird may be easily approached. As soon as the heavy rains fill these pools 

 it abandons them, and resorts to other places. It is said to frequent fields in 

 which corn, peas, sweet potatoes, etc., have been planted, feeding on the grain and 

 peas, and digging up and devouring the potatoes. It also feeds on water insects, 

 frogs, reptiles, moles, and field-mice. Audulwn once found a garter-snake fifteen 



