THE WHOOPING CRANE. 450 
No. 205. 
WHOOPING CRANE. 
A. O. U. No. 204. Grus americana (Linn.). 
Synonym.—WuITE CRANE. 
Description.—Adult: Plumage pure white, the wing-quills, primary coverts, 
and alula black; top of head, lores and cheeks bare, dull red, covered with a thin 
growth of short black hair,—the hair mixing more or less with white feathers on 
hind nape; bill dusky green; feet and legs black. Jimmature: Similar to adult, 
but head not bare; plumage, especially on back, more or less overlaid with ochra- 
ceous. Length 52.00 (1320.8) ; extent 90.00 (2286.) ; wing 24.00 (609.6) ; tail 
11.00 (279.4) ; bill 5.50 ( 139.7) ; tarsus 11.50 (292.1) ; middle toe and claw 5.40 
(137.2). 
Recognition Marks.—'‘Eagle” size; immense size; long neck; long stout 
black tarsi; pure white coloration. 
Nesting.—Does not breed in Ohio. Nest, of grasses, on ground in marsh. 
Eggs, 2 or 3, pale olive or light drab, spotted and blotched with reddish brown and 
with obscure purplish gray shell-markings. Av. size, 4.00 x 2.50 (101.6 x 63.5). 
General Range.—Interior of North America from the Fur Countries to 
Florida, Texas, and Mexico, and from Ohio to Colorado. Formerly on the Atlantic 
Coast. at least casually, to New England. 
Range in Ohio.—Rare migrant in western half of state only. 
YEARS ago this stately bird was occasionally seen during the migra- 
tions. It formerly bred in abundance in Illinois, and may once have done 
so in northwestern Ohio, but the center of the bird’s present breeding range 
lies further north and west. Upon the prairies of North Dakota, Dr. Coues 
declares that he has mistaken one of these Cranes at a distance for an ante- 
lope, so great was its size. 
That the Whooping Crane deserves its name we cannot doubt after we 
learn that it is provided with a windpipe nearly five feet long, some two feet 
of which, for convenience, is coiled away in the breast bone. 
