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BIRDS OF AMERICA 



WHOOPING CRANE 

 Grus americana ( Liiuucus) 



A. U. V. Xumhcr J04 



Other Names. — White Crane; Great White Crane; 

 Garuii. 



General Description. — Length, 4'j feet; spread of 

 wings, 7' J feet. Phimage, white. Head with bare spot 

 on each side below eyes, extending to a point on back 

 of croivn and sparsely covered with short hairs. 



Color. — Adults: Jl'liitc: (iriniarics and coverts, 

 black: bare part of head, carmine; bill, dusky-greenish; 

 legs, black; iris, yellow. Young: Entire head, feathered. 

 General plumage, whitish, variegated with rusty-brown. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest ; On the ground ; a well- 



built structure of marsh grass and reed stems, from one 

 and a half to two feet in diameter and eighteen inches 

 high. Eggs ; 2, olive or bufTy, blotched with large 

 irregular spots of brown. 



Distribution. — North America ; bred formerly from 

 northern Mackenzie south to Illinois and Iowa; now 

 mainly restricted to southern Mackenzie and northern 

 Saskatchewan ; in migration formerly not rare on the 

 Atlantic coast from New England to Florida and casual 

 west to Colorado and Idaho; winters from the Gulf 

 States to central !Me.xico. 



The Wliooping Crane was named and de- 

 scribed by Linne in the eighteenth century. 

 Previous to that time all three American species 

 were lumped together as Cranes. 



Many of the narratives of the early voyagers 

 and settlers tell of Cranes migrating and nesting 

 along the Atlantic coast. Ditring the first cen- 

 tury after the discovery of the country, Cranes 

 evidently were more or less numerous all along 

 this coast, from Florida to New England, but 

 the word has been used so frequently to denote 

 the larger Herons that one might be inclined to 

 place little faith in the statements of sailors and 

 colonists were it not for two facts: (1) In 

 those days Cranes were well-known and conspicu- 

 ous birds in England and other countries of 

 which these voyagers were natives, or which 

 they had visited, and undoubtedly they were 

 familiar with these birds, and could distingttish 

 them from Herons. (2) In the lists of birds 

 given by these early adventurers, Herons, 

 " Hearnes " and " Hernshaws," " Bitterns," and 

 " Egrets " or " Egrepes " are also referred to, 

 showing that they distingtiished the Cranes from 

 the Herons. The common European Heron was 

 a large species ( resembling the Great Blue Heron 

 of America) which, at that time, was called the 

 Hernshaw. Hearneshaw, or Heronshaw. It is 

 often impossible to determine which species of 

 Crane was referred to in these early narratives 

 and lists of birds, as usually no description is 

 given ; but now and then we find a reference to 

 a bird that must have been the Whooping Crane. 



The Whooping Crane is the only bird of North 

 America that can be described as " almost as 

 tall as a man." The Whooping Crane stands 

 about five feet high when stretched to its full 

 height, but being white it appears taller, while the 



Sandhill Crane is not so conspicuous on account 

 of its color and does not appear so large. 



Probably there were few Cranes inhabiting 

 Massachusetts when the Pilgrim Fathers landed 

 at Plymouth, except along the coast, on the 

 islands, and on the meadows and marshes of the 

 river valleys, for most of the State was then 

 covered with primeval forest ; and while Cranes 

 are sometimes found in open woods, they are 

 shy and wary birds, and prefer the open country, 

 where they can discern their enemies from afar. 



The fact that they sometimes ate the corn 

 proves that they v^'ere actually Cranes, not Her- 

 ons, and also helps to explain their early disap- 

 pearance from Massachusetts. They paid with 

 the death penalty for eating the corn. Also, as 

 these birds occupied the only natural open lands 

 — those that were first sought by settlers — they 

 were driven out within a few years after settle- 

 ment began. Even had they not attacked the 

 corn they must soon have succumbed because of 

 their large size, their white color, and their gen- 

 eral conspicuousness. In the early days the 

 Indians used to steal upon the Cranes and shoot 

 them with arrows. Now the few survivors of 

 this species in the West will hardly come know- 

 ingly within a mile of the white man. 



John Lawson, in his History of Carolina, says 

 that Cranes are sometimes " bred up tame " and 

 are excellent in the garden to destroy frogs and 

 other vermin. 



This bird is long-lived and grows wary as the 

 years go by ; it now frequents prairies, marshes, 

 and barren grounds, over which it stalks, always 

 alert and watchful. It flies low, its wings some- 

 times almost brushing the grass tops, but in mi- 

 gration it rises to stich tremendotis heights that 

 it may pass over a large region unnoticed by man. 



