BIRDS or INDIANA. 669 



i 



F. ORDER PALUDICOL^. CRANES, RAILS, ETC. 



SUBORDER GRUES. CRANES. 

 XV. FAMILY GRUID^E. CRANES. 



Characters same as family. GRUS. 36 



36. GENUS GRUS PALLAS. 



a 1 . Tarsus 11.00 or over. G. americana (Linn.). 74 



a 2 . Tarsus 10.00 or less. G. mexicana (Mull.). 75 



74. (204). Grus americana. (LINN.). 



Whooping Crane. 



Adult. Plumage, white; the primaries, black; upper part of head 

 and cheeks, and sides of throat, naked, red. Immature. Plumage, 

 white, more or less washed with light cinnamon; head, feathered. 



Length, 50.00-54.00; extent, 92.00; wing, 22.00-25.00; bill, 5.35- 

 5.80; depth of bill at base, 1.40; tarsus, 11.00-12.00. 



RANGE. Interior of North America, Florida and Central Mexico, 

 north to fur countries, and from Ohio to California; formerly on At- 

 lantic coast, north to Massachusetts. Breeds from Illinois north; also 

 on Gulf coast (Mcllhenny). Winters in Gulf States. 



Nest, in marshes, of grasses. Eggs, 2; olive or olive-buffy, marked 

 with brown and grayish; 4.04 by 2.50. 



Rare migrant; formerly more common. It has been known to breed 

 in Central Illinois (Nelson), and Clear Lake, Iowa (Cooke), and doubt- 

 less did so in Indiana. Mr. L. T. Meyer says, in Lake County, it is 

 exceedingly rare. It was a summer resident, but the draining of the 

 Kankakee marshes has driven it away. Mr. Timothy H. Ball writes 

 me of their former occurrence in Lake County, also. He says they 

 were common, but not as abundant as the Sand Hill Crane. He thinks 

 they nested in the big Kankakee marsh. They were beautiful objects 

 as they stood out upon the prairie, the black on their wings contrast- 

 ing so plainly with their white plumage. They did not come into the 

 cornfields as the Sandhills did, but standing in the water they seemed 

 from a distance like them, only they were white. Mr. Charles Dury, 

 of Cincinnati, 0., informs me of its occurrence in "North Indiana;" 

 also that there is a specimen in the Cuvier Club in that city that was 

 taken near Bloomington, Ind. Dr. A. W. Brayton notes that it was 

 formerly abundant. 



