SPECIES 10. AEDEA AMERICANA* 

 WHOOPING CRANE. 

 [Plate LXIV. Fig. 3.] 



Arct. Zoo/. JVo. 339. CATESBY, i, 75. LATH, in, p. 42. La 

 Grue d'Jlmerique, BRISS. v, p. 382.- Fl. EnL 889. PEALE'S 

 Museum, JVb. 3704.1 



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 neigh- 

 bourhood 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 rest- 

 ing stages on the route to and from their usual breeding places, 

 the regions of the north. A few sometimes make their appear- 

 ance in the marshes of Cape May, in December, 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 seashore in search of marine worms, 

 sailing occasionally 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 heard at the distance of two miles. 

 They have also various modulations of this singular note, from 



* This bird belongs to the genus Gnw of Pallas. 

 t Grws Americana, ORD'S ed. vol. vm, p. 20. 



