232 THE BIRDS ABOUT Us. 



Northwest," gives amusing instances of mistakes of 

 this kind. 



The Brown or Sandhill Crane is a little smaller 

 bird, and slate-gray varying to brown, instead of pure 

 white, like the preceding. Except in Florida, not 

 found east of the Mississippi River. Mr. Dall found 

 these cranes breeding in Alaska on the Yukon River, 

 the eggs " laid in a small depression on the sandy 

 beach, without any attempt at a nest." 



The following from Wilson, while purporting to 

 be an account of the whooping-crane, applies also to 

 the sandhill crane, which he appears to have con- 

 sidered the young of the former. This account is 

 of interest now more particularly, because it is de- 

 scriptive of a phase of bird-life on the Atlantic coast 

 of New Jersey now forever passed away. 



" This is the tallest and most stately species of all the feathered 

 tribes of the United States ; the watchful inhabitant of extensive salt- 

 marshes, desolate swamps, and open morasses in the neighborhood 

 of the sea. Its migrations are regular and of the most extensive 

 kind, reaching from the shores and inundated tracts of South America 

 to the arctic circle. In these immense periodical journeys they pass 

 at such a prodigious height in the air as to be seldom observed. 

 They have, however, their resting stages on the route to and from 

 their usual breeding-places, the regions of the north. A few some- 

 times make their appearance in the marshes of Cape May in Decem- 

 ber, particularly on and near Egg Island, where they are known by 

 the name of Storks. The younger birds are easily distinguished from 

 the rest by the brownness of their plumage. Some linger in these 

 marshes the whole winter, setting out north about the time the ice 

 breaks up. During their stay they wander along the marsh and 

 muddy flats of the sea-shore in search of marine worms, sailing occa- 

 sionally from place to place, with a low and heavy flight, a little above 

 the surface, and have at such times a very formidable appearance. 

 At times they utter a loud, clear, and piercing cry, which may be 



