CRANES. 137 



These birds live in colonies composed sometimes of thousands of 

 pairs. Their day begins after sunset, when they leave their roosts and 

 start for their feeding grounds. Occasionally they utter a loud, hoarse 

 quawk, the origin of their common name; and looking up we may 

 catch a glimpse of them hurrying through the gloom. During the 

 nesting season the demands of the young force them to feed both by 

 day and night. 



203. Nycticorax violaceus (Linn.). YELLOW-CROWNED NIGHT 

 HERON. Ad. Crown white, generally washed with buffy ; ear-coverts white ; 

 rest of the head and throat black ; neck, breast, and belly blue-gray ; back 

 the same ; the lengthened iritcrscapulars, scapulars, and wing-coverts streaked 

 with black; two or three black and white rounded occipital plumes; lores 

 greenish yellow ; legs greenish. 1m. Crown black, the feathers streaked with 

 white or huffy ; rest of the upper parts, including wing-coverts, fuscous-brown 

 with wedge-shaped butty or white spots; primaries dark bluish slate-color 

 without rufous ; under parts white or bufFy streaked with blackish. L., 23-00 ; 

 W., 12-00; Tar., 3-75; B., 3-00. 



Remarks. Young birds bear a general resemblance to those of the pre- 

 ceding species, but differ in being darker, in having the head darker than the 

 back, and the prirnarios without rufous. 



Range. Breeds from southern Illinois and South Carolina southward to 

 South America, and occasionally strays north as far as Massachusetts. 



Long Island, A. V. Cambridge, A. V., one record, July. 



Nest, a platform of sticks, in pairs, generally in a low branch overhanging 

 water. Eggs, four to five, pale, dull blue, 1-95 x 1-45. 



Unlike the preceding, this is a rather solitary species, and is found 

 singly or in pairs along the borders of wooded streams, and never in 

 colonies. It is also, I think, more diurnal in habits. 



ORDER PALUDICOUE. CRANES, RAILS, ETC. 



FAMILY GRUIDJE. CRANES. 



The Cranes number about eighteen species, of which three are North 

 American, while the remaining fifteen inhabit the Old World. They 

 frequent plains and marshes, and are omnivorous feeders, eating frogs, 

 lizards, field-mice, snakes, etc., and various kinds of vegetable food. 

 Our species migrate in flocks, but are solitary rather than gregarious 

 at other times of the year. Their voice is loud and resonant. 



204. Grus americana (Linn.). WHOOPING CRANE ; WHITE CRANE. 

 Ad. Top of the head, lores, and sides of the throat dull red, with a thin 

 growth of black " hairs " ; primaries black, rest of the plumage white. Im, 

 Similar, but whole head feathered, and the plumage more or less washed with 

 buft'y ochraceous. L., 50-00 ; W., 25-00 ; Tar., 11-50 ; B., 5-00. 



