THE CRANE. 



453 



able to run with great speed and activity. It is generally found in 

 the forests. 



The name of Trumpeter is derived from the strange hollow cry 

 which it utters without seeming to open the beak. This cry is evidently 

 produced by means of the curiously-formed windpipe, which is fur- 

 nished with two membranous expansions, which during the utterance of 

 the cry puff out the neck very forcibly, just as the rhea does when 

 grunting. The nest of the Trumpeter is said to be a hole scratched 

 in the ground at the foot of a tree, and to contain about ten or twelve 

 light-green eggs. The head and neck are velvety black, and on the 

 breast the feathers be- 

 come large and more 

 scale-like, and their 

 edges beautifully be- 

 decked with rich shin- 

 ing green, with a pur- 

 plish gloss in some lights 

 and a lustrous golden hue 

 in others. The back is 

 gray, the feathers being 

 long and silken and hang- 

 ing over the wings. The 

 wiugs, under surface, and 

 tail are black, and the 

 feathers of the tail are 

 soft and short. 



Although in former 

 days tolerably common 

 in England, the Crane 

 has now, with the bus- 

 tard, almost disappeared 

 from this land, a single 

 specimen being seen at 

 very long and increas- 

 ing intervals. In some ^ Louisiana Heron. 2. Pied Oyster-catcher. 3. 

 parts of England and Ire- Whooping Crane. 4. Long-billed Curlew, 

 land the popular name of 



the heron is the Crane, so that the occasional reports which sometimes 

 find admission into local newspapers respecting the Crane often have 

 reference, not to that bird, but to the heron. 



The Crane makes its nest mostly on marshy ground, placing it 

 among osiers, reeds, or the heavy vegetation which generally flourishes 

 in such localities. Sometimes, however, it prefers more elevated situa- 

 tions, and will build on the summit of an old deserted ruin. The eggs 



