Herons, RAILs, Etc. 231 
rummaging among the dead leaves, and I can im- 
agine no other reason for their doing so, unless it was to 
catch the little black salamanders that were there and 
at that time extremely abundant. Again, in confine- 
ment, these birds seem to prefer the batrachian to fish. 
The Yellow-crowned Night-heron is a southern 
species that very seldom wanders as far north as the 
Middle States. I have seen it on the Delaware 
meadows as far up the river as the limit of tide- 
water. 
Of true Cranes we have three species, of which, 
as we have seen, two were once seen on the Atlan- 
tic coast as far north as New Jersey. Peter Kalm, 
writing from New Jersey under date of February 
17, 1749, says,— 
“‘Cranes were sometimes seen flying in the daytime to the north- 
ward. They commonly stop here early in spring for a short time, 
but they do not make their nests here, for they proceed on more to 
the north. Certain old Swedes told me that in their younger years, 
as the country was not yet much cultivated, an incredible number of 
cranes were here every spring, but at present (1749) they are not so 
numerous. Several people who have settled here eat their flesh when 
they can shoot them. They are said to do no harm to corn or the like.” 
As given by Ridgway, the present range of the 
Whooping-crane is as follows: “Interior of North 
America, north to the Saskatchewan, south to Florida 
and Central Mexico.” 
This crane is said to be of “the most imposing 
appearance of any [bird] of this country.” It is more 
than four feet in length, and when seen on the open 
prairie is often mistaken for quite different objects 
than birds of any kind. Dr. Coues, in “ Birds of the 
